The Stage
by Feilyn
Summary: It's called The Stage. Every woman in the Seireitei goes through it. Falling in love with Kuchiki Byakuya. The number one rule, however, is to never expect him to fall back. Psht. Rangiku never played by the rules. Part of the Lost and Found series.
1. Chapter 1

_The Stage is a part of the Lost and Found series, which starts with (funnily enough) the story Lost and Found. All of the stories in the L&F series are companion pieces and should be read with each other, however if you don't want to read them all, it's not strictly necessary. Anyway, the first chapter of The Stage!_

xXx

You know, I've never understood why so many people come to me for advice. Is it the boobs? Do they somehow scream 'EARTH MOTHER' when I'm not looking? I don't mind helping out, but to be honest I'd rather go to Nanao than listen to myself babble on. Then again, Nanao doesn't get out too much. I mean, between a paperwork obsession and Shunsui, who has the time?

But throughout my vague tenure as an advice-giver (there has to be a better word for that), there's one thing I've often been faced with.

Kuchiki Byakuya. The problem of him, that is.

Women keep falling in love with him and none of them seem to understand that they are _never _going to get him. Ice King, anyone? But still, generation after generation comes to me, begging to know how to catch the man of their dreams.

Personally, Captain Kuchiki isn't all that enticing. I mean sure the man's gorgeous, there's no mistaking that but high and haughty never did it for me and despite the amount of times he's saved her since, I'd always found it contemptible, the way he'd abandoned Rukia.

For once however, it wasn't a lovesick woman who barged into my room in the Tenth Division barracks at two o'clock in the morning. Well, it was a woman, but not a lovesick one. No, this woman was Kuchiki Rukia and she was pissed off.

Also pissed out of her mind, but we've all been there before and considering what had happened, I don't blame her.

What I do blame her for though, is totally screwing up my perception of her brother. I'd happened to be reaffirming my dislike for the noble after a particularly disturbing dream, when Rukia just had to go and have the mother of all arguments with her brother about her being at vice-captain level and he wouldn't let her be even twentieth seat, get rip-roaring drunk far more impressively than I think even I've managed then come to me at two in the morning while I'm doing paperwork and spill all his dirty little secrets. So before I thought he was a bastard. Now, I just think he's a coward.

Or rather, I know I _should_ be thinking of him as a coward. I mean if it had been anyone else I'd don't think I'd be anywhere near as understanding. But somehow since Rukia spilled the beans three months ago my mind has taken a _tortured soul_ approach to what I found out and Kuchiki Byakuya has suddenly become totally alluring as opposed to a sister-abandoning loser.

Bastard. Complete and utter total bastard.

But I'm pretty sure he already knows that.

xXx

"Nanao! Na-_na_-o!" Tapping my foot impatiently, I hammered on the door to my friends neat little house. "_Nanao!_"

The door opened quietly and I nearly fell over.

There was Nanao alright, with her hair twisted up and not a single strand out of place, glasses sitting primly on the bridge of her nose and lips pursed in their perpetual disapproving expression…

Clad in Shunsui's pink haori.

_Only_ Shunsui's pink haori.

She sighed as I tried my very hardest not to laugh. "What is it, Rangiku?"

I sailed past her and into the house. "You know, you have the cutest belly-button I ever did see, Nanao-chan."

She glanced down, and a muttered curse reached my ears as she hurriedly pulled the haori tighter around her.

"Where's Shunsui?" I asked, looking around the living room. It was cluttered with empty sake bottles, cans of whipped cream and chocolate sauce. Winking over my shoulder, I cleared a space on one of the couches and flopped down.

"Still in bed. As per usual. How are you, Rangiku?"

"Ugh. I don't want to think about it."

Nanao raised one perfectly sculpted eyebrow. "Oh? I take it this means you had another dream?"

"They just won't quit!" I burst out. "And it's annoying as hell and I don't like it, so make it stop."

"Yes, Rangiku. Because I have complete and utter control over your subconscious mind," she stated dryly.

I pouted at her. "For a start, call me Ran-chan. As I have continuously told you over who knows how many centuries. And you've got control over Shunsui, I don't see how my subconscious could be any great battle."

"That's an entirely different situation. For a start, I can't hit your subconscious with a fan or book, and I also can't threaten to cut it off for a week."

I stared. "You've done _that_ to poor Shunsui?"

"No…" She struggled to keep a straight face and failed miserably, giggling slightly. "To be honest, Rangiku, that puppy-eye look gets me every time. Although I don't let _him _know it, of course."

"Of course. And I know the look. Best defended against when you're so drunk you can't see straight. And totally worth the hangover in the morning."

"I don't understand why your taichō doesn't hate you."

I sighed, looking down at my lap. "I'm not so sure about that."

"What?"

I stared at Nanao, surprised at her brief lack of eloquence. "He yelled at me this morning."

"…He's always doing that."

"Yes, but this time he _meant_ it. Nanao, the Division's falling apart. I try to keep it running as best I can, but there are some things only a taichō can do and I'm…I'm not a taichō. Tōshirō—"

"You call him Tōshirō?"

"Only when he's not around to listen. Not that he's ever around anymore. He's lucky – or unlucky, depending on how you look at it – that Ukitake-taichō is so willing to take over our duties. Otherwise he wouldn't be able to get away to the physical world as often as he does." I sighed again. It was getting to be a habit. "I never thought I'd resent someone for dying, but damn, I just wish Karin had been smart enough to get herself out of whatever situation it was that killed her."

"You don't know what did it?"

"Taichō does and so does the Kurosaki family, but Tōshirō won't tell me and I thought it'd be rude to ask Ichigo. Been almost four years, anyway. Doesn't matter what killed her, only that it happened." I pushed my hair back off my forehead. "He was almost too in love with her. He loves too hard, I think."

We sat in silence for a few minutes and then Nanao decided to make a slapdash and very obvious attempt to change the subject. "So, this dream?"

"Ugh," I said again. "Do I have to think about it?"

"Well that is what you came over here for, wasn't it?"

"No, that was an excuse. Taichō wants to take me with him to the physical world this time and the Division can't handle it. I'm hiding.'

"Oh, dear."

"My thoughts exactly."

"Knowing your vocabulary, Rangiku, I'm sure they weren't your thoughts _exactly_."

"Oh, hush you. But seeing as I'm here, you may as well help me out with this dream anyway. It's another thing that's beginning to be a habit and it irritates me."

"What was the first thing?"

"Sighing. Unimportant. Now, help me."

She looked at me and adjusted her glasses.

"Uh…help me _please?_"

"Of course." A pad and pen appeared out of nowhere. "Now, what was the dream about?"

"Sex," I answered promptly, just to see the blush on her cheeks. Of course, I'd forgotten that Nanao had been sleeping with Shunsui since before the end of the war and had been his vice-captain for much longer than that. Needless to say, it took a lot to make her blush.

She adjusted her glasses again, although I failed to see how they had slipped down in the minute or so since she'd done it last.

"Fine. Sex with Kuchiki Byakuya. Happy?"

"Quite, but not because you're having sex dreams about Kuchiki-taichō."

"_Is_ she now?"

Nanao's favourite fan flicked out of Shunsui's haori and cracked against the knuckles of the man himself.

"Ow-ow!" he cried, instantly chibifying. It had no effect on either me or Nanao, the both of us being far too used to it. He pouted, and I pouted right back.

"Stop it, the both of you. You look ridiculous."

"You're dressed in a bright pink haori twice the size of you," I pointed out.

She thought about that. "Oh. True enough."

"Hey!" This amounted to the Captain's protest at the ridiculousness of his haori.

"Did you just wake up, Shunsui?" I enquired sweetly.

"I've always just waken up, Ran-chan but this time it appears my dreams weren't half as interesting as yours."

"Dreaming of napping again?" Nanao asked acerbically.

"Got it in one, my lovely Nanao-chan."

"Don't speak like that. You hardly ever speak like that in private."

"That, my dear, is because I'm far too busy doing other things to talk." Shunsui winked at me and this time Nanao did blush.

"You walked right into that one, Nanao," I laughed.

"Oh, shut up. You're here to talk about your sex life, not mine."

I snorted. "What sex life?"

"No offers, Ran-chan?" Shunsui answered.

"Plenty of offers, no time. You try running a Division, making sure your taichō doesn't kill himself and maintaining a healthy sex life all at the same time."

"Try running a Division," Nanao muttered under her breath.

Shunsui look as if he was about to complain, then shrugged. "Fair point."

His acquiescence shocked Nanao into silence. A large grin spread across Shunsui's face and I started to giggle.

She scowled at me and cracked her lover across the knuckles with her fan again. "Do you want my help or not?"

I sobered immediately – she was fiddling with her glasses again. "Actually I really did just come to hide. Also to vent, but if you have any advice on the dream front, you're welcome to share."

"I think you should just admit it."

"Admit what?"

"That you're going through The Stage."

Shunsui started to laugh.

"No!" I gasped. "Never! I refuse!"

"You can't refuse your heart, Ran-chan," the Captain of the Eighth Division sang.

I picked up one of the empty sake bottles from the coffee table and threw it at him. Dozy as he looked, he caught it. Bastard.

As stated above, I've known a lot of woman who've fallen for Kuchiki Byakuya (and quite a few men). In fact, I'd have to say that, barring Rukia, every woman in the Seireitei has fluttered after Kuchiki Byakuya at one point in her life. The Rukongai too, if he ever deigned to go there. The point is, it's like a rite of passage. The Stage. One I'd never passed through. One I was never _going _to pass through.

No, seriously.

"I am not in love with Kuchiki Byakuya," I declared.

Nanao sniffed. "You're dreaming about him almost every night now. You can't get him out of your head."

"You need him!" Shunsui sparkled. "You crave him, your loins ache with passion for—"

This time I decided to forego the sake bottles and just throw the whole table.

xXx

_So, that's the first chapter of The Stage, and I hope you liked it! Next chapter will be up when I can write it, but for now, please review this one!_


	2. Chapter 2

_I feel like writing crazy. I haven't done it in a while, and it's really fun. I write good crazy – lots of practice, seeing as the two main characters of my novel happen to be insane_

_So I may end up making the past Momo a tad whacky instead of angry and delirious. I'll fix it later, promise._

_Note: Form 513 refers to a Division's sake budget and the details thereof. Form 513B refers to the 'Shunsui budget' – the amount of money each Division has to spend on sake when Captain Kyōraku comes to call. It's generally ignored when sent to wherever th__e forms go. For fuller details, see the actual Lost and Found story._

xXx

My Captain did, unfortunately, manage to find me and kidnap me to the physical world for three days. He was becoming more and more despondent and with that came a certain amount of desperation. I think he was realising just how impossible his chosen task was – I mean, Ichigo gave up almost two years ago, and he's the man who killed Aizen. The time was nearing for my Captain to bend or break and I was worried about just what the outcome would be.

It showed. I ended up shrieking at him as he stared at the soccer field, waiting for Karin's soul to just show up after fours years. But he did listen, which I suppose is progress and always positive. Even better, I convinced him to let me go shopping and collected yet another bikini for Nanao. Shunsui has actually set up an account specifically for me to buy his lover tiny-two pieces. I have the feeling that he steals the money from the 513B fund, but nobody ever looks at the state of that money for fear of an apoplexy so I suppose it's alright.

Something odd was going on when I came back, however. Kuchiki Byakuya was everywhere. At first I thought I was hallucinating and when Nanao had finished chasing me with her book (she still wasn't a fan of the bikini) she told me I was just noticing him more because of The Stage, butI'm not going through The Stage so there goes that theory. I settled unhappily on the hallucination idea until Ikkaku (_Captain _Ikkaku, to his great dismay, although that's probably more because Zaraki was dead than actually being a Captain) commented on how that 'pansy-ass taichō is always hangin' around these days'.

If Ikkaku was noticing him, something was definitely up, but the hallucination theory was still a good one until _Iba_ mentioned something.

All of this happened in about the space of a week, during which my own Captain had an encounter with Ukitake that worried him more than a little. The Captain of the Thirteenth Division almost always has an exhausted air about him due to his illness, but it's been worse lately. Tōshirō assumed it was because of the hassle everyone has been giving him and Rukia lately, due to Rukia's recent promotion to vice-captain after Kuchiki withdrew his objections. It may have had something to do with the advice I gave her that night a few months ago ('Hug him, Rukia. No, seriously. Guy like him? Won't know what the hell to do with himself. Then sit down and calmly explain the situation to him. If nothing else, it'll be fun to watch). Anyway, due to Ichigo's well-known friendship with Ukitake and his even more well-known relationship with Rukia, rumours were flying about how the Deathberry had been pulling strings behind the scenes.

Of course, that wasn't what was _really_ worrying Ukitake. But if Tōshirō was too stupid to realise that the other Captain cared for him like a son, I wasn't about to tell him. Some things had to be found out for themselves.

Others, however, could be thrown at friends who would be nagged at until they figured them out for you. Such as the way that whenever I made eye contact with Kuchiki Byakuya he would swirl away (you know that thing he does, with the scarf and the haori…?) but always be back the next time it occurred to me to look for him.

"It's almost like he's running away," I complained to Nanao as she flash-stepped around the Seireitei searching for Shunsui.

"_Damn it_, he's not here either. Oh – look, Rangiku, that sounds awful but right now I really need to find Kyōraku-taichō and get him to sign these forms. So, could you _please_—"

"Shunsui's been following about two steps behind for the last half hour," I pointed out. "And I think something nearby is about to explode, possibly Shunsui's hat, so I'm off to find Momo."

And I ran. Fast. Good thing, too, because if the reports that came in after were true, the resulting explosion was heard in district eighty of the Rukongai.

xXx

"Momo? Momo, are you here?" I called into her office.

"Oh – Ran-chan! Come in, come in." The fusuma slid open to reveal an exhausted looking Hinamori Momo. No change, then – Momo's been looking exhausted for over a decade.

"You have a free moment?" I asked.

"Not _really_…"

"Too bad. Come on, you're an acting-taichō, you have to keep in shape." I grabbed her arm and hauled her out of the dusty office. Alright, so it was immaculate, but it _felt_ dusty. You know, like actual hard work.

"Argh! Ran-chan, no! These papers have to be in to Yamamoto-sōtaichō tonight, at the _latest_. I really don't—"

"How come I don't have these papers," I interrupted, thinking of the mountain of paperwork I'd waded through this morning. Turns out I was quite good at it, when I wasn't drunk. But there was nothing I'd seen that had to be in immediately. "Nevermind. If Yamamoto is too lazy to find a proper taichō for Fifth – not that you're not doing a wonderful job, but you _obviously_ don't want to be doing it – anyway, he doesn't deserve to have proper paperwork procedure followed, yes? And I seriously doubt anyone could fault you for getting out and having a stretch."

"Ran-chan, there _are_ no taichō-level shinigami except for me, and I reallt don't want the job."

"Kurosaki Ichigo. Isshin. Shihoun Yoruichi. Urahara Kisuke, for crying out loud!"

"There really is no arguing with you, is there?" she sighed, dragging along behind me. "I am tired though."

"I can tell, Momo. You sound like and elephant, thumping along like you are. But you'll end up looking like one if you don't get some exercise in, so hurry up."

She started to giggle, then laugh and I smiled fondly at her.

"You know if anyone else had said that I would have thought it rude, but from you it just seems funny."

"Thanks…I think." We entered the Fifth Division training grounds Fifth wasn't on duty until next week, so most of the Division was out training in preparation. A couple of people noticed Momo and I and saluted with their zanpakutō between one movement and the next but no one stopped. A few Captains thought that Momo was too lenient with her Division, but she trained them for battle, not social niceties. If a person's in the middle of a battle and their Captain shows up, they're not going to have time to bow unless they're suicidal.

It was strange to see just how much Tōshirō's childhood friend had changed over the years. A great deal of her innocence had been stripped away, and I had played no small part in the doing of it. The story goes that Momo was under the control of Aizen's zanpakutō right up until the moment he died, but that's a lie. My lie. The war wasn't over after his death, or even after the fighting was over. Traitors claimed they were under hypnosis and others had just never got the fact that their _Captains_ were traitors and then there were people who had actually _been_ under Aizen's control. Momo had not been under hypnosis, as everyone else thought, but that was our secret, as secret as the scar bisecting the mark left by Kyōka Suigetsu over her heart.

"How is it?" I asked softly as we marked out an empty area.

"Pulling a bit," she admitted. "You're right; I really haven't had enough exercise lately."

"Well then, it's a good thing I dragged you out here." I unsheathed Haineko.

She grinned lopsidedly at me, drawing Tobiume. "I guess so."

Momo was kept in confinement, away from the people she would distract with her mostly incoherent rants – namely Kira, Renji and Tōshirō. I visited her often, usually in the interim between having a wound healed and being ordered out to the field. It was a good match. She would scream at me about Aizen and Gin, I would talk at her about what I'd seen since the last time I'd visited. Neither of us would say anything particularly pleasant and we generally ignored each other, so it was a happy arrangement. To be honest, I found the whole experience rather cathartic cathartic – if I'd tried talking about it to anyone else, is would have been 'happens to everyone', or even worse, 'so how do you feel about that?'

I told her about the deaths. Zaraki, Yachiru, Komomura, Kotsubaki…at the time Kotetsu had been a total mess, even though she was now the undisputed third seat of the Thirteenth Division. Small comfort, I'd say. Of course, that's changed _now_ – she's pretty much back to her old self – but it was touch and go there for a while.

Momo just screamed.

I told her about the atrocities, lingering especially on the way Gin ignored the higher level shinigami and went after the weaklings, flirting around them with Shinsō and spearing several at a time when he got bored. I think she may have listened a couple of times there, because the words 'Ichimaru's whore' entered her rants from there on.

She shut up, however when I told her of Renji's death.

"_He's dead. Renji killed him, and then died of his wounds. We both lost someone we care about today, hmm? T__hat's why I'm here earlier than usual. The took me off the field." I snorted. "Probably afraid I'm going to turn into _you_."_

_Her lips worked. "Abarai-kun…"_

_I stared. "You – you understood that?"_

"_Ichimaru's dead!" she crowed. "Aizen-taichō will come and save me!"_

_It was hard to tell if she'd truly understood me or not. Several times before Hinamori had announced exactly the same thing – the only time I'd ever paid attention to her because the words made my blood run cold. Despite everthing, Gin was – had been, rather – my childhood companion. People didn't let go of things that easily._

_Just look at Hinamori._

"Stop daydreaming, Ran-chan! You're getting slow!"

"Sorry, _taichō-class-san_," I snarked back. Never mind the fact that Momo's strength wasn't in her speed and with unreleased zanpakutō I'd always be faster than her.

The left sleeve of my hakama disappeared.

Well, I when I paid attention, that is.

"_I didn't see the battle itself, but I did see Kuchiki-taichō's bankai fade. Guess Gin was faster than him after all, but Kuchiki got a few good hits in. Otherwise there would have been no way for Renji to finally kill him."_

"…_Abarai-kun…"_

"_Yes, Hinamori. Abarai-kun."_

"Seriously, what's on your mind, Rangiku? I've never seen you this slow before." Momo was concerned, yes, but that didn't change the fact that I was on my ass in the dirt with Tobiume at my throat.

With a flick of my legs I was back on my feet and Momo toppled backwards onto her cute little behind.

"You're getting complacent, Momo."

"Me? You're the one moving like Ikkaku. All power and no finesse."

"_Gin's dead," I whispered. "He's _dead_. And I don't know what I'm meant to do about it." _

_I could do this here. I could break down here. After all, my only witness was a girl more than halfway to mad. I just needed to get this out of my system and then I could go back out and fight and kill and not turn _into _that girl._

Momo slid smoothly into a defensive stance from her position on the ground. "Nevermind. It's only sparring after all."

Stroke, slash, slash, feint, slash, parry, riposte, feint. I pushed her back, getting into the swing of things. She winced as I pulled a manoeuvre that forced her to block high, tugging on the scar that curled over her heart and around her side.

"Now who's slow, hmm? If you were as fast as _me_, you could have bypassed that strike entirely."

She laughed, sweeping Tobiume in a wide slash towards my side. I was about to leap over it (yes I _can_ jump that high, but my boobs tend to…spill) when I _swear_ I saw Kuchiki out of the corner of my eyes. On reflex I turned to meet his gaze, but there was no one there and Momo, darling Momo, was swearing a blue streak as she struggled to pull her zanpakutō at the last moment.

xXx

_Heh…I didn't _mean_ to have this chapter end like that, but it was getting too long and that was the only appropriate place I could find to cut it off. But part of the next chapter is already written, so it should be up quicker than the last one. Then again, I make no promises because I have a Cambridge English exam on Friday my time and then two/three weeks after that I have the exams that decide whether or not I pass this year. There's no way I won't pass, not when I only need 15 credits, but whether or not I pass_ well_ is another story._

_Thanks for reading_


	3. Chapter 3

_**I've bolded this because the first part of the chapter is also in italics and I don't want you getting confused.**_

_**Lol! Bya/Ran is practically canon! Was rewatching parts of anime and Luppi captures Rangiku and she tells him she hates talkative guys, they gross her out!**_

_**I'm afraid Momo isn't exactly in canon, but in this story she was one of the people changed most by the war, the reasons for which are described in this chapter. The basic reason that this series is called Lost And Found is because it's dealin**__**g with the consequences of having lost something important, and not necessarily a person and not specifically during the war either. For example, Tōshirō lost Karin after the war, Momo lost the remnants of her innocence and temporarily her sanity in the war…wait, no **_**before**_** the war, and Rangiku…well, that's a part of what this story is about! **_

_**I feel slightly evil.**_

_**Also, a note about the accents in the flashbacks. I'm going for street kids, and I figure that Rangiku, having come from the same general area as Gin, would have spoken similar to him (I don't speak Japanese, so I can't tell from the anime flashbacks.) She learned how to speak with a more cultured tone upon entering the academy, but Gin just didn't give a shit.**_

xXx

"_Aizen's dead," I whispered, st__umbling into Hinamori's cell. "Please, please, for the sake of my taichō, tell me you're sane again. Tell me you're sane."_

_She blinked at me uncomprehendingly._

"_Abarai-kun."_

_I moaned, slumping against the wall. "You couldn't have just pretended to be under hypnosis, could you Hinamori? You had to be the real fucking deal. Do you have any idea what this is going to do to Tōshirō, you selfish little bitch? It's going to tear him to pieces and he's got enough to worry about, what with Ukitake-taichō on his deathbed."_

_She stared and I stamped hard on the ground. "Aizen is _dead_, Hinamori! For crying out loud, you don't owe him anything! He was stabbed right through the chest, just the same as when he tried to kill _you_, but his damn war is still going." I looked down at my hands, washed of the blood of the last arrancar my team had managed to kill. "I thought it would end when he died. I thought it would stop."_

"_Aizen-taichō…?"_

"_Was an evil bastard who deserved to have his own trick played back on him. You know how fast Ichigo moves? Fast enough that you can see ten of him at a time. Fast enough that Aizen didn't know which one to kill. Fast enough to end Aizen and move on to the next enemy like it was nothing."_

"_Aizen-taichō!"_

_Hinamori's strength wasn't in her speed, but I wasn't expecting her to dart forward and wrest Haineko from her sheath._

_Yes, it was stupid. I was in a room with a mad woman, of course I should have been keeping an eye on my zanpakutō. Forgive me for not being able to keep my wits around me when my world had been rocked once again._

"What is wrong with you today, Rangiku?" Momo was yelling. "I could have killed you!"

I looked around the training grounds from my position on the ground for the elusive trailing end of that scarf. Nothing. "I thought I saw…never mind. Momo, did you ever go through The Stage?"

She pursed her lips and re-sheathed Tobiume. "Is that what this is about?"

"No…maybe?"

Momo sighed and flopped down onto the dirt next to me. "No, I never did. It was always…well, _him_ for me."

_Haineko wasn't levelled at me.__ It was impossible to kill a person with their own zanpakutō unless they were the one holding the hilt. No, the pointy end of Haineko was aimed directly at Hinamori's heart, and it was only by the merest chance that I managed to knock her hands away at the right moment so my zanpakutō sliced across her ribcage instead of through it._

"I hate this. Hell, I went through the Academy with the man and I don't think I've ever spoken more than two sentences to him. Now I see him everywhere, and he's always looking at me!"

"Come on, Rangiku. It's not like you to get so down. That's my job." She smiled hopefully.

I chuckled at her slightly pathetic attempt to cheer me up. "Oh, you're right. He's just a man, after all. But you weren't exactly top of your form today either. Was that exhaustion, or do you have your own troubles?"

The smile twisted slightly and became self-deprecating.

"Tōshirō?" I asked.

"Mm. Tōshirō." She sighed. "I know you know what's wrong with him, Ran-chan, and I know you're not the only one who knows. I just wish someone would tell me."

I winced at the accusatory tone of her voice. "I'd tell you if it was my secret to tell, Momo, but…"

"Yes, well, we all have our secrets, don't we." She was looking off into the distance, absently rubbing her side.

"It hurts more than you let on, doesn't it, Momo."

She turned bitter eyes to me. "It does."

Somehow I got the feeling she wasn't talking about the scar. At least, not the one on her body.

I hauled myself to my feet and held my hand out for Momo. "Ask him."

"You think he'll answer?" she asked sceptically, accepting the hand.

"To be honest? I have no idea. I'll say this much – he's giving up hope. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing I don't know, but the point of no return is fast approaching, I think."

"_Aizen-taichō…Aizen-taichō…"_

"_What are you doing, you idiot girl? You want to join him? Is that it?"_

"_Aizen-taichō!"_

_I slapped Hinamori__ around the face even as I struggled with the healing kidō. If Haineko had pierced something important, I was screwed. Kidō was never my strong point. The wound was bleeding a lot, but I was hoping that was more because it was long, not deep._

"Listen to me!_ I could quite happily watch you die, you know? I never liked you, thought you relied too much on Aizen to the detriment of your own skills. But other than you being a wimpy little _cow_, you hurt my taichō. My taichō who is _not_ a traitor. How in the hell could you turn away from him like that? He loves you, you're like his sister! And that is the _only_ reason I'm saving your pathetic excuse for a life right now, because it would ruin him if you died."_

"_You try it!" she shrieked. I was so shocked the kid__ō almost faltered. Then again, it probably would have done it by itself anyway. "You try being in my position! I love Aizen-taichō! With all my heart I love that man, and you have _no idea_ what it was like being on the receiving end of his sword. Of course he was tricked! Don't you see?" She started to shove ineffectually at my arms as I stared down at her. "If he wasn't tricked, Matsumoto, the man I love tried to murder me. Don't you see?" She was sobbing now. "Ichimaru pulled his sword for you. He said _sorry_ to you!"_

"_H-how…?"_

"_I didn't want to understand," she whispered. "I was happy being there by myself , all alone in my mind. But you – _you_. You kept showing up here, talking to me, telling me all those awful things in the war and the only thing I had to hold onto was that he was tricked. That _you_ were the traitor, Ichimaru's whore, sent to mock me." She coughed slightly, and I sighed inwardly. No blood, so it looked like nothing vital had been touched._

"_Gin still betrayed me," I grated out. "It didn't matter whether or not he could kill me. The only important thing was that I would have done my best to kill him. The moment he turned traitor, I didn't owe him anything. Not my friendship, my loyalty. My love. You took the easy way out." I checked the wound. It had closed, although there would be a nasty scar. "You couldn't face it and it drove you insane." I stood, taking Haineko with me and re-sheathing her. "You disgust me."_

I slapped myself across the face. "Stop it!"

"R-Rangiku?"

"Eh? Oh, Momo. Just ignore that, would you?"

She smiled softly. "You're a very odd person, Ran-chan."

"Don't I know it." I patted her shoulder lightly. "Go and see Tōshirō, Momo. If nothing else you'll irritate him for a bit and that's always fun to watch." I started to walk away.

"Where are you headed?" she called after me.

"Eleventh Division," I yelled over my shoulder. "I think it's about time I had a chat with Yumichika."

xXx

"I hate you."

"Ran-chan! What an ugly thing to say, and from such beautiful lips as well!"

"Compliments won't stop me from hating you."

Yumichika pouted, and let me just say here that there isn't a force on earth that can hold out against Yumichika's pout when he chooses to employ it. Even _Zaraki_ had submitted to the damn thing. Find any dictionary, look under the word evil and that damned pout will stare right back it you.

I sighed. "But that might."

He flashed me a perfect grin.

It wasn't _fair_. I walk into the Eleventh Division, punch a few guys in the gut for staring, wink at a couple who wolf whistle, stumble across Yumichika beating the ever-loving shit out of the seventh-seat (and looking entirely put together at the same time, the bastard) and have him drop everything and start _laughing_ at me.

"Kuchiki _Byakuya_, Ran-chan?" he'd managed to say once he'd calmed down.

Hence the multiple repetition of 'I hate you'.

"Listen, I came to you for help. Am I going to get it or should I just leave?"

"Well…"

Shaking my head I shoved a bottle of my best moisturiser at him. He simpered something at me about how unexpected this was and that Ran-chan was simply the most beautiful thing since Ikkaku had restocked the green tea yesterday with the expensive sort before leading me away from the groaning man at our feet to his office.

"Why do you get your own office?" I grumbled.

"My dear, can you even begin to imagine how ugly it would be, Ikkaku and I sharing an office? I said as soon as I was promoted, 'I'm not sharing my workspace with a brute like you!'" He sighed, "Now_ that _was beautiful."

Yumichika is quite possibly the only person I've ever met who refers to manipulation as beautiful. Even Gin just thought it was fun.

"_Oi, Ran-chan! C'mere for a sec!"_

"_Eh?"_

"_I wanna show ya something'."_

"_What is it?"_

"_Just _come_ wouldja? Elsewise I won't climb the trees for the best apples no more!"_

"_Gin, ya meanie! Well, I don't like them apples anyway."_

"_Aw, c'mon Ran-chan, it was just a joke. Can't ya take a joke?"_

"_I can too! See here, I'm comin' over there right now!"_

_Silence._

"_Gin, no! What're ya doin'?"_

"_Jus' havin' some fun, Ran-chan. 'S not like they feel it or nothin'. They don't got no brains."_

"_Do too!"_

"_Do not."_

"_Do too!"_

"_Well I say they don't." And he shoved me backwards. "So there."_

_I started to wail and he started to laugh._

But there had been a whole basket of bright red apples on my blankets that night.

"Ran-chan? Are you with me?"

"Hmm?" I jerked out of my reverie and scowled, only to be reprimanded with a flick to the nose.

"Not beautiful at all. You'll get wrinkles on that lovely face of yours."

"Sorry. Just…reminiscing, I guess. Something stupid's been going on with my brain lately."

"Like falling in love with Kuchiki-taichō?

I slammed my hands down on his desk. "I am _not_ in love with Kuchki Byakuya!"

Yumichika started laughing again. "I do believe that's the first time anyone's ever said _that. _Usually they claim the complete opposite."

I buried my face in my hands. "I need to get drunk."

"No, you need to confront him."

Slowly, my head lifted of its own accord, mouth hanging open. He tapped it shut, tsking.

"You're joking."

"I am not," he huffed. "It worked with Kuchiki-fukutaichō didn't it? And as I recall, _you_ were the one who advised her on that occasion."

"That's different!" I spluttered. "Rukia is his _sister_, he can't throw her out of the house…well, he can, but he _wouldn't_."

"Despite his faults, Kuchiki-taichō is the ultimate gentleman."

"Except when he's trying to ignore someone, insult them or kill them, yes?"

Yumichika shrugged. "Despite his faults, I said."

"Yumichika! The two are mutually exclusive!"

The vice-captain of the Eleventh Division snapped his fingers and the fusuma slid open to reveal the same brute he'd been trampling not five minutes before. His eyes were swollen almost shut, but he still managed to flawlessly pour both me and Yumichika a cup of green tea before retreating. In fact, it almost seemed like his was running away – manfully, of course, seeing as this was the Eleventh.

"See, Tanaka-kun! I told you if you practised enough, you could do it with your eyes closed!" Yumichika called cheerily after the man who was probably halfway to the physical world. He turned back to me, taking a sip of his tea before folding his hands together. "So?"

"Yumichika, I can't confront him." I pouted. "He doesn't even know I exist, for a start." Okay, so that was a blatant lie. The man had been following me, and I knew it, but when have I ever claimed to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? I'm as prone to exaggeration as the next girl.

"Oh please. Modesty's one thing, Ran-chan, but that there was positively ugly. He's practically stalking you."

"_Maaaa-tsuuu-moooooo-toooo…"_

"_Who was that?" I shot up, thin blankets twisted around me. It was pitch black._

"_Maaaa-tsuuu-moooooo-toooo…Raaaan-giii-kuuuu…"_

"_Gin? Gin, that ain't funny."_

_A rustling of blankets and Gin popped up next to me, eyes shifted tiredly under his closed lids. "Eh? Ran-chan, what're you on 'bout now?"_

"_Th-that weren't you?"_

"_Aw, you ain't hearin' spooks again, are ya Ran? Cos that's startin' to get real old."_

"_I only told ya that so ya wouldn't stay away so long. Stupid, weren't I? Thought ya might actually _care_."_

_Silence._

"_Maaaa-tsuuu-moooooo-toooo…Raaaan-giii-kuuuu…"_

_I squeaked. "Gin? Gin, I swear if that's you, I'm gunna beat ya blind! Then you'll have a damn excuse for keepin' them eyes of ya's shut!"_

"_It ain't _me_, Ran!"_

"…_for real?"_

"_For real! Now go on an' get back to sleep."_

"_I can't do that! If it ain't you, who the hell izzit?"_

"_Don't swear, Ran, it's vulgar."_

"_Ooo-hoo! Vulgar, eh? Who's been hangin' out with them pansies from district one, eh?"_

"_Shut up! You don't even know what it means!"_

"_Maaaa-tsuuu-moooooo-toooo…Raaaan-giii-kuuuu…"_

"_Gin!"_

"_IT AIN'T ME! Damn, Ran, it ain't my fault you're hearin' voices again!"_

"'_Don't swear, Ran, it's vulgar'," I mocked._

"_I'm a man, I'm allowed to swear."_

"_You ain't a man, you're just a – hey, hold the cart, I never said I were hearin' voices!"_

_Silence._

"_Ah, shit."_

"_GIN!"_

"Rangiku! This is a most ugly habit!"

"Stalking!" I snapped my fingers. "That's it!"

"Eh?"

I tapped his mouth shut. "Kuchiki Byakuya is stalking me. You're right. So I think it's only fair I return the favour."

"No. No! Rangiku, bad plan – _ugly_ plan. For a start, you don't have the time. You have to baby-sit your taichō, remember?"

"All the more reason to sort him out, then. Ukitake will be sure to help out, and if Tōshirō tells Momo what I think he will, Ichigo's going to have a black eye tomorrow and _he'll_ have no problem telling her what's going on and I'm sure he'll help. So that's four people! We'll work something out, and then I'll show Kuchiki Byakuya what he gets for screwing up my head."

"You can't stalk him! He's a taichō!"

I winked. "Watch me. Thanks for the tea!" I prepared to flash-step away.

"You didn't touch it!"

The words 'So _not_ beautiful' lingered in my head as I headed towards the Thirteenth.

xXx

_So, what did you think? Rangiku is reliving bits and pieces of her past, the reason for which you shall find out later! Next chapter, perhaps…where the man himself shall be making an entrance! Ku-chi-ki! Ku-chi-ki!_

_Actually, you know the description Ran gave him in the first chapter? That's pretty much how I think of him. Coward. But so sad! But coward! I have major internal conflict. Lol._

_I won't bribe you for reviews, but remember! Reviews equal motivation and motivation equals updates!_

_Wait, was that a bribe?_

_Oh well._


	4. Chapter 4

_The line 'Do you need to be walked home, Matsumoto' comes from NessieGG's Real Time fic, a one-shot of Rangiku/Byakuya that is a helluva lot of awesome._

_Chapter four! This things gonna be a lot longer, chapter wise at least, than the actual Lost And Found._

xXx

"Rukia! Is Ukitake-taichō in?" It was two days after I'd spoken to Yumichika – on my way to the Thirteenth I'd suddenly remembered the huge overflowing mountain of paperwork on my desk and had only just gotten through it.

My friend ignored me in favour of staring unseeingly at the forms she was slumped over. She banged her head down on them several times, punctuating each 'thunk' with a word or two.

"I – hate – paperwork," she groaned. "Hate it – hate it – hate it."

I blinked down at the form on top. "Ah, the ever-present 513B. Ignore it; it's never going to be looked at."

"Eh?"

"Seriously. I mean, you've seen the amount of sake Shunsui can down in one go, yeah? Trust me – you're never going to be reimbursed. There's actually a theory going around that if everyone got their money back, the economy would collapse."

"B-but…we get so many of these!"

I smirked. "That would be why I do my drinking at Shunsui's. Then _he_ has to pay, not my Division."

She scowled. "You don't drink anymore, remember Rangiku?"

"Doesn't mean I can't dream. Anyway, is Ukitake-taichō here?"

"I'm a glorified secretary," she grumbled. "And..well, he is but I think it's probably not a good idea to – _Nii_-sama?"

I may or may not have squeaked.

Whipping around, I saw that Kuchiki Byakuya was indeed in the large room outside Ukitake's office-come-study-come-sickroom. Suddenly the air seemed even hotter than summer warranted and – _holy hell, did the room just shrink?_

Needless to say I was feeling very uncomfortable.

"Kuchiki-fukutaichō. Matsumoto-fukutaichō."

Wait, never mind. The room just regained previous size and temperature. Bastard.

"I wish to speak with Ukitake-taichō. I assume he is free?"

Rukia, for the first time in a long time, was floundering for an answer so I took the matter neatly out of her hands.

"I'm afraid he's not. Kuchiki-taichō," I added belatedly, thoroughly enjoying the way his eyes narrowed slightly at the almost-but-not-quite disrespect in my voice.

An eyebrow rose.

"He's not free," I repeated. "I was just about to see him. Unless it's important?" Now _that_ bordered on disrespect, but the man wasn't my Captain and I had an odd feeling that he wasn't about to skewer me anyway.

I met his eyes. Something quivered in the pit of my stomach as I calmly held his gaze, but I thrust it down ruthlessly, marking it as unimportant.

"The matter is not urgent, no," he finally said. "I will wait."

"How fortunate." A thought hit me with the subtlety of a sledgehammer and I jumped, turning back to Rukia. "How's the Kiyone matter going?"

Rukia rolled her eyes to the heavens. "It's not going. He is too stubborn and she is happy so long as she's near him."

"You're one to speak of being stubborn." I looked around the room, skipping over the rather large aberration (Kuchiki). "Uh…where is she?" Kotetsu Kiyone was usually sitting in her desk opposite Rukia's struggling with the vice-captain's form overflow (while competent at the paperwork, Rukia tended to draw undecipherable little pictures all over the forms, meaning that new copies had to be obtained).

"With him. He had another bad fit yesterday. You know how she gets."

"Maybe I should come back at another time…" I dragged out a seat and sat down.

It's a little known fact that Kiyone is hopelessly in love with her Captain. It's even lesser known that he feels something back for her. Rukia and I (and to some extent Kiyone's sister, Isane) have been watching the two exasperatedly ever since Kiyone recovered from Sentarō's death. For once it had been Ukitake doing the hovering as Kiyone alternatively cried, sobbed and threw up because of the crying and sobbing. We all thought something would come from it, but nearly fourteen years later…nothing.

"To be honest I think it would be a good idea. She was chattering happily about Sentarō about a half an hour ago and I don't like to interrupt them when they're reminiscing."

Rukia had mellowed out a tad since the war. Of course nearly losing your life multiple times does that to a person (well, either that or it screws you up for life), but Ichigo probably had a hand in it too. It takes a certain type of person to not be affected by Kurosaki Ichigo, and as of yet I've never meet that type.

Speaking of the Deathberry…

"I hear Ichigo's due back tomorrow," I sang.

My friend's face darkened. "Idiot bloody Kurosaki," she muttered. "He couldn't just wait a day so I can get this paperwork out of the way. Kiyone doesn't understand what half of these forms are, and she refuses to ask taichō. Oi, Nii-sama!" I jumped at the shout and suddenly realised that the other Kuchiki was still in the room with us. "What's a seven-nine-eight?"

"Damage caused by the Eleventh Division," he replied evenly, not even showing the slightest twitch at what _was_ blatant disrespect.

Rukia glared down at the 798. "Then what on earth is this for? Eleventh never – oh, wait, that's right. Ikkaku punched one of the Twelfth Division transfers through the wall a month ago." She shook her head. "No one ever seems to understand that I'm fully capable of doing it myself."

"I think the people that Unohana refused treatment after you beat the crap out of them probably do," I drawled.

"Yes, but that was _after_ the wall incident. Will you be visiting the graves next week?"

I blinked at her sudden change of subject before glancing over my shoulder at the still-present Captain. "Of course."

Two graves, although only one contained a body. Abarai Renji was buried next to his and Rukia's childhood friends in the Rukongai, with room for just one more. Rukia and Ichigo had no need to be buried together – they would always find each other.

Some people are lucky like that.

The other grave represented so many things. Lost childhood, lost friendship, lost lives. A small shack on the outskirts of the Rukongai with a pile of ratty old blankets and an apple tree outside.

An ordinary looking zanpakutō slammed to the hilt through the trunk of said tree.

"_Give it to me."_

"_This is the zanpakutō of traitor Ichimaru Gin. It should have faded with his soul upon his death."_

"_Well, obviously his soul isn't all gone. Now give me the damn zanpakutō."_

_I'm not sure who pulled what strings to get me the thing, but at the end of everything, when the war was all over, Shinsō was lying innocently on my bed in the Tenth Division barracks._

_I stared down at it. "I don't want you to be with me anymore, Gin. I don't want to carry the burden of your soul anymore." Gently, I picked up all that was left of my old friend. "Come on. I may as well take you back to where it began."_

I stood up quickly, disturbed by the memory. _Damn stupid brain, dredging up things that don't _matter_ anymore! _"I – I'm going home. If you see Ichigo before me, which I've no doubt you will, tell him something needs to be done about my taichō and he's the best person to do it."

And that's when things went a tad awry. See, I'd just so happened to forget that the chair was still behind my knees as I went to run for it, and subsequently, I tripped over the damn thing.

Spectacularly. As in, boobs nearly falling out of kimono spectacularly.

I swore longer and louder than I think even Ikkaku has ever managed as I resettled everything. It was ostentatious enough to drown out Rukia's laughter, but not to drown out Kuchiki's soft tone.

"Do you need to be walked home, Matsumoto-fukutaichō?"

There was no inflection in the voice, nothing whatsoever to let me in on what he was up to.

I accepted his offer.

_Probably my life just changed._

xXx

"What are the graves that my sister spoke of?" Kuchiki said finally after a few minutes of walking in silence.

I started, surprised he was even talking to me. "Well…Renji's of course. I've seen you there once or twice, Kuchiki-taichō."

A pause. "He was a good subordinate."

I felt a hot spark of anger at that. "He saved your life," I told him quietly.

"And lost his own. For the sake of his pride. So he would be remembered as the man who killed Ichimaru where I couldn't." It seemed I'd struck a nerve, because I'd never heard him say that many words in one go before. That was three whole sentences!

We walked a little further. "A lot of people do stupid things for pride," I said eventually. "But I don't think it was Renji's pride he was protecting."

"Then he was a fool." For the first time in my life, I heard emotion enter the voice of Kuchiki Byakuya. It was still quiet, but harsh and regretful.

"For not protecting his pride or for protecting you?"

Silence.

I sighed. "I guess that's answer enough."

We walked a little more.

"Ichimaru was my fight," he said suddenly. "There should have been no interference from anyone."

I thought about that. "This is one of those Ichigo things, isn't it?"

His face didn't change, but there was a light in his eyes that screamed bafflement.

Why was this man so easy to read?

"You didn't want anyone to interfere in your fight with Ichigo either, did you Kuchiki-taichō? And when you lost, you would have been quite happy for Unohana-taichō to let you die." I shook my head. "What was it you said about pride?"

Don't get me wrong. I'm usually not so disrespectful to Captains unless I have a relationship with them. But as it is, I'm on friendly terms with the leaders of eight of the thirteen Divisions, so it's a hard habit to pull. Plus, the man had been stalking me – surely that gives me as the stalkee _some_ rights to impertinence.

"It was less about pride and more about vengeance, Matsumoto-fukutaichō."

I blinked.

"Ichimaru was involved in the plot that nearly killed my sister. He succeeded in taking the life of Kusajishi-fukutaichō and if I'm not mistaken, you no longer have any feeling in your left shoulder thanks to him."

How in the hell did he find _that_ out?

Oh, right. Stalker and all. But still.

I laughed. I couldn't help myself. "You didn't go after Gin for _that_ though. Plus, it was my own fault. I jumped in the way of a death stroke meant for a member of my team. The healer. You should have seen the look on his face."

_Blue-green eyes fluttered open in shock. "Ran – Ran-chan?"_

_I gritted my teeth, irritated that (a) he had got me and (b) it took a near death experience on my part for him to finally show me his eyes. Shinsō was mere inches from my heart._

"_I am Matsumoto Rangiku, fukutaichō of the Tenth Protection Division," I intoned formally. "Not _Ran-chan._"_

"He ran away, though," I said softly. "Well – made a hasty retreat, at least. But not before killing the healer. Taniyama-chan." I stopped abruptly, taking stock of where we were. "Uh – Kuchiki-taichō? Where are you taking me?"

We were in the general housing area, where shinigami who could afford it rented or owned a house. I never really saw the point, especially for those living alone – the barracks were big enough for one person and what's more, they were free. Not that that matered to me, what with me being a vice-captain.

I glanced sideways. Then again, some people like their privacy.

He stopped and turned to look at me. "You…do not live here." It didn't have the air of a question, but it still felt like one.

I shook my head, feeling my hair flutter with me. "I'm a barracks girl. Not a fan of big spaces."

"As a fukutaichō you have the right to a house in this area."

"Oh, make no mistake, Kuchiki-taichō. I still use the house. It's where I keep all my clothes."

"You do not wish for more…luxury."

I twisted a wry grin in his direction. "I grew up in a one room shack with no bathroom, Kuchiki-taicho. My bed was a pile of old blankets in the corner with the least holes in the wall and my heater was Ichimaru Gin. That barracks _are_ luxury. Hell, back then life was a luxury. I would have been dead if it hadn't been for Gin."

An eyebrow twitched at me. Surprise.

"Starvation," I continued. "You know, you need food all the time when you've got a lot of reiatsu and it can be really hard to find." I suddenly remembered exactly who I was talking to. The man had probably never gone hungry for half a day, let alone a couple of weeks.

"I've heard mention of the difficulties of the Rukongai," he murmured and the recollection this time was of Rukia and before that his wife.

Hisana.

I abruptly felt very out of place.

"Tenth Division barracks it was, then?" he asked and he was _looking _at me again. Bastard.

"Hmm? Oh – yes. Kuchiki-taichō." This time the delay in his name and title was more out of surprise at the undecipherable look he was giving me then anyway rude intention.

"Then allow me to escort you."

And he _held_ out his _arm._

I'd seen him do it before, but to people like Shihouin Yoruichi and captain Unohana. Rukia once or twice.

I placed my arm in what I hoped was the correct position and then looked up at him through my eyelashes. It was a patented Matsumoto Rangiku look that not even Yumichika could perform better than me.

Kuchiki said nothing, did nothing in response except start to walk.

I smirked to myself.

I was being _escorted_ by Kuchiki Byakuya.

Neat.

xXx

_Chapter four! And feel grateful, for god's sake, because I spent four hours doing this when I should have been studying. My exam is tomorrow. I'm so screwed._

_But! Positives! It means absolutely nothing to my mark on anything! However, if I fail I can't do Cambridge English next year which means I have to be stuck in a normal class of NCEA with a teacher who hand feeds me notes and has never even heard of a class discussion, let alone thought of having one._

_Plus, everyone expects me to get the highest mark. PRESSURE!_

_Anyway, thanks for reading, you don't _really_ have to feel grateful (although I'd like it) and please review!_


	5. Chapter 5

_Please take it as a given that Isshin was Ran's Captain. It's been mentioned in Lost And Found, and seeing as Ran's telling the story here, she doesn't exactly need to explain it to herself. I couldn't think of a better Division for Isshin to Captain – can't you just see how Ran would have gained her…exuberance?_

xXx

We were nearing my Division's barracks and I was feeling extraordinarily pleased with myself, having encountered thirteen glares and a hiss.

"What was the other grave?" the man escorting (escorting! I was being escorted!) me asked.

"Hmm?" It was a strange experience, taking to Kuchiki Byakuya. For a start, he wasn't even looking at my face, let alone my chest. To share a secret, it was sort of…nice.

"Rukia mention graves. A plural. You only spoke of Renji."

I stared up at him. "I know the word graves is a plural."

He waited as I struggled for a better answer.

Then it clicked. Vengeance.

"It works better if I show you," I announced. "If you're that interested meet me a week from now. Six o'clock, Renji's."

He thought about that and I hid a smirk. Pressure! Of course he wasn't that interested, he was Kuchiki Byakuya.

"Very well."

See? Wait, what?

"I – you agreed?"

"You had expected me not to?"

"Well, yeah, actually."

His eyes…blanked. It's difficult to explain, but somehow it felt as though Kuchiki wasn't home any longer. "Did you wish to rescind your offer?"

I had no idea, not having even entertained the idea that he would agree. "Um…no. Not really." I smiled through my lashes once again. "Six o'clock, a week from now?"

The blankness dissipated, although his expression didn't appear to change at all. "Renji's grave," he agreed.

How morbid. But, disregarding the location, it was slightly tingle inducing at the same time.

_I have a date with Kuchiki Byakuya._

And that there was irrefutable proof that I wan't going through The Stage. Because no girl who ever suffered that horrific rite of passage ever scored an outing with the man of their dreams.

So there.

"Oh, this is my stop." I let my arm drop from his. "Thank you, Kuchiki-taichō, for bringing me home. Who knows what I might have tripped on without you."

He nodded, once and it had to be my imagination but before he swirled away I could have sworn the corner of his mouth lifted slightly.

xXx

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the Seireitei's biggest pain in the ass." I smiled, genuinely happy, as Kurosaki Ichigo himself wandered into the office I shared with Tōshirō. Who, unsurprisingly, wasn't there. "When did you get – hey, nice sunrise. Rukia found you already?" There was a large bruise forming around his left eye.

Ichigo grimaced. "Nah, haven't had the chance to see Rukia yet. I know she's got paperwork to do anyway."

"So the black eye just magically appeared, did it?"

"No, but Hinamori Momo did. I thought she wasn't any good at flash steps?"

"_Momo_ decked you?" I started to laugh. Looks like I'd been right after all.

He scowled at me. "Watch yourself, Ran-chan. You're about to fall out." He nodded at my boobs, which were indeed perilously close to escaping their confines. "And yeah, she did. Went totally crazy, it was terrifying. I finally managed to get her calmed down enough to stop hitting me and it turns out that Tōshirō's screwing over the whole Tenth Division because he's still looking for Karin. Know where I can find him?"

"_Taichō? Taichō, where the hell are you? Oh, I'm gonna _kill_ you if you're not already dead!"_

"_Matsu…mo…to?"_

_I knew that voice. I knew that voice! "Taichō!" I spotted a flash of white amongst the foliage and ran towards it. I gathered my small Captain in my arms and held on to him, shoving as much energy into him as I could to keep him alive until the Hell Butterfly I'd sent off returned with someone better at healing kidō. _"_Matsumoto..." He struggled to draw breath. "Matsumoto."_

"_It's me, taichō. It's me. Just keep talking to me, alright? Just keep talking." I swallowed back tears. No energy to waste, it was hard enough to speak while I tried to stop the blood._

"_Karin!" He jerked in my arms and then let out a pathetic little moan. The wound in his gut was huge._

_I didn't think he was going to make it._

"_Karin-chan's fine, taichō! She's fine, I swear."_

"_I…I saved her?"_

"_Yes, taichō. You saved her. She's safe." I brushed his hair out of his eyes. "And she saved you. I wouldn't have even known something had happened if she hadn't come to find me. But a piece of advice, taichō?" I wasn't going to let him die without a smile on his face._

"_Uhn?"_

"_Next time you take her out on a date, for crying out loud remember the Soul Candy."_

"Rangiku? Are you going to answer me, or was I not invited to the party in your head."

I slapped myself across the face for the second time in a week. Ichigo blinked, looked at me a little strange, and then shrugged it off.

"Are you going to knock some sense into him?" I asked. _This is Kuchiki's fault. Somehow. I know it._

"Nah, Tōshirō's sort of a mate. I figured I'd try talking to him about it."

"Ichigo, you're the least subtle man in three worlds."

"Yeah, well, maybe subtle ain't what he needs." Ichigo scratched the back of his head. "Ah, it was just an idea. You know him best though, Ran. If you don't think it's a good plan, I'll stay away."

"Good plan? I think it's a brilliant plan. In fact I was going to ask you to talk to him anyway."

"Eh? Then what was with the whole 'you're the least subtle man in three worlds' line?"

I laughed happily. If anyone could bring my Captain around, it was Ichigo. "I just felt like pointing it out. Now, run along and make my taichō better."

He choked. "Run _along?_"

But I'd already turned back to my paperwork. Duty calls and all that.

xXx

"Oi, Matsumoto."

Tōshirō stepped hesitantly into the office. I stilled, giving him a once over through my eyelashes – no bruises, cuts or scraps. Maybe he had actually managed to play nice with Ichigo for once. Calmly, I finished the sentence on the report I was writing and looked up, slapping a happy smile on my face.

_Please let it have worked, please let it have worked._

"Another trip, taichō? I'll be ready in a few minutes, I just have to finish this report."

His face turned faintly green and I wondered if maybe Ichigo_ had_ managed to land a hit.

"Put it down," he snapped.

"T-Taichō?" Oh, I really had to find out what happened.

He started to rub his temples and I suppressed a grin. He was doing it again! Getting frustrated, not angry. _Kurosaki Ichigo, you are a magician. _"Why are you doing the paperwork?"

I blinked. I had, after all, been doing the paperwork for the last four years. Well, everything I had authority to do, at least. "It's my job."

"Right. Matsumoto, when was the last time you went out and got drunk?"

_Um, forever?_ I set the brush aside. "About four years, taichō."

He swallowed hard, struggling with his words. I knew what was coming next. I knew how hard it was for my Captain to bend his pride and apologise. I wouldn't blame him if he couldn't do it now.

I just wanted him back. That was apology enough for me.

"I – I'm sorry, Matsumoto," he said quietly.

My squeal in response may have been a _tad_ too exuberant. The Tenth didn't come crashing down around our ears, but it was a close thing. I leapt over my desk, sending my work everywhere and a few seconds later the desk itself keeled over but what did I care? I didn't have to worry about it anymore!

"Tai-_chō!_"

For the first time in four years, I hugged my Captain.

It may not sound like much – in fact, most Captains would probably regard such an act as insubordination, but my relationship with Tōshirō was built up of these hugs. There was a time when I could deliver my patented bear hug without using my arms, a time when he would scream at me for trying to drown him, as he put it.

Now? I'm a good five-eight, and while he didn't tower above me, I suddenly realised I was looking up at him.

I felt a slight pressure as he squeezed me back for an instant and smiled into his shoulder.

"Matsumoto—"

Okay, that was really getting irritating. "Oi, taichō. You know, Shunsui calls Nanao-chan by her given name, and I haven't heard Ukitake-taichō call Rukia-chan Kuchiki-san in years…"

Of course, Shunsui and Nanao are lovers and Ukitake has this thing about ignoring formalities, but I wasn't about to point that out.

_Let's see _just_ how back to normal he is._ I pulled away from him and danced towards the door. "Ah, taichō, I have to go tell Ichigo that our plan worked!" I winked. "Try cleaning up the paperwork for me?"

It took a few seconds, but his enraged shout of "_RANGIKU!_" echoed throughout the entire Seireitei.

I've always known that Matsumoto is much more satisfying to yell than my given name. That must be why people do it so much, right? So maybe, now that he'd taken to using 'Rangiku' he wouldn't yell at me quite so much.

I peeked back around the corner where Tōshirō stood, staring in dismay at the room I'd somehow managed to destroy in a few seconds.

Yeah, somehow I doubted that.

xXx

I wasn't actually off to see Ichigo. I'm sure he knew that whatever he'd said had worked and what's more he was probably with Rukia. Normally not a problem, but last time they'd seen each other was months ago, just before Rukia became a vice-captain so they were probably doing what people in love did after a long separation.

Screwing like rabbits.

_Hey, _I_ can do that now!_

Okay, I'm not the slut that several (hundred) shinigami seem to think, but who doesn't like sex? Sex is great. I mean, you can achieve basically the same thing by yourself but it's not the same as with another person. For a start, there's something kind of…special about sharing such an intimate moment with another person, even if it's just a one night stand. It's probably even better for Ichigo and Rukia – after all, they're in love and that's meant to do wonders for your sex life. I wouldn't know, I've never been in love before.

No, I was going to inform Captain Ukitake of the good news and then I was going to put Operation Kuchiki into business.

The trailing end of a scarf caught my eye, and this time when I turned Kuchiki _was_ there and for once he wasn't looking at me.

Of course, he may have been before I saw him, but let me have my peace of mind. As interesting as it was, I was getting rather sick of being followed everywhere. And where did he get off, _escorting_ me around the place, asking after dead people? Acting like he cared…psht.

Okay, I'm fickle, so sue me. I'm also a woman and if I want to be pissed of at Kuchiki I damn well will be.

He was heading in the general direction of the Thirteenth Division – probably off to see Ukitake seeing as he hadn't been able to yesterday. This was brilliant! After all, it wasn't stalking if he just so happened to be going to the same place as I was. Naturally, I gave chase.

I'm sure he knew I was there, but that was really the whole point. I didn't want to watch him, I wanted him to _know_ I was watching him, that I knew his game.

I didn't, but that's just semantics.

I jumped to the roof as he entered the room that Kiyone and Rukia have set up as their office. I heard Kiyone jumped from her seat and say something, but Kuchiki didn't retreat so Ukitake must have been well enough to receive visitors.

Make no mistake, if he _hadn't_ been well, Kuchiki would have been chased out of that room like the dog he was. Kiyone was scarier than Unohana with the Eleventh when it came to her Captain.

Maybe I didn't mean dog. A puppy, maybe. Cute puppy, sharp teeth.

I worry about myself sometimes.

"…tsumoto Rangiku, Bya-kun?"

Wait, that was my name! And Kuchiki's, in the same sentence! Either my brain was on overload from the success of my plan or the roof wasn't soundproofed. I was betting on the second, seeing as I didn't really have a plan to actually succeed in.

It was an Operation, not a plan.

"For once, sensei, spare my dignity. Please refrain yourself from laughing at my misfortune." There was no mistaking _that_ voice, but I was a bit surprised to hear Kuchiki call Ukitake teacher. Vaguely, I remembered that noble children were tutored by a Captain of the Thirteen Protection Divisions before entering the Academy, but I hadn't known that Ukitake had been Kuchiki's teacher.

Then again, I had been a street-rat from the Rukongai. Why _would_ I have known?

Still, nice to see Kuchiki got over his own pride and accepted Ukitake's decision to let Kaien have his. Ukitake probably regretted Rukia's involvement in the former vice's death than Kuchiki did anyway.

Now _there's_ a man I could have happily fallen in love with. Shiba Kaien, who looks suspiciously like a certain Kurosaki I know, and not my former Captain either. But I don't go after married men. Well, not often.

"Dignity, Bya-kun?" A chuckle. "As soon as you started seeing that woman instead of letting your eyes skip over her, your dignity was as good as gone. Men do strange things when they're going through The Stage."

I could sense the dreaded capitalization of those two words. _For the nth time, I am not going through—_

Wait, what? _Men_ do strange things when they're going through The Stage?

Oh, no. Oh, hell no.

Me?

xXx

_Bwahaha! Yes, the men have The Stage too! _Their_ particular rite of passage involves falling in love with our very own Matsumoto Rangiku._

_Anybody seeing a connection here?_

_Remember, the motivation thing! Oh, and to all of you who wished me luck on my exam, thank you so, so much! It's didn't go brilliant, but considering I was expecting to sit there for the whole 2hrs40mins twiddling my thumbs, I firmly believe that you lot helped me out there. Lol. Thanks again!_

_In other news, please review!_


	6. Chapter 6

_I had a shit-fucker of a day today, but I wrote most of this chapter yesterday anyway, so it shouldn't show in the chapter. If it seems too angry, just let me know and I'll give it another shot. _

xXx

Whoa. Just – whoa.

Maybe there was more to this stalking experience than previously imagined. This…this information was _gold_.

For a start, it didn't seem as though Kuchiki _did_ know I was there. And the men had their own version of The Stage – and it was falling in love with me! I was the ultimate object of male desire! Of course, this also made me an object, but you can't have everything.

"I would very much to see you follow up on this, Bya-kun." Ukitake's voice was so soft I almost missed it. "You have been alone and miserable for much too long."

"Much the same could be said of you," Kuchiki replied quietly. The words could have easily had a bite to them but instead there was almost a tinge of concern.

"I wouldn't burden anyone with my love, Bya-kun. You, however, are a different story."

_Oh, Kiyone, you poor darling._

"You insist that I burden someone."

"So it _is_ love that we speak of, then," Ukitake said slyly.

_Psht. Kuchiki and love? Plus me? I know I'm gorgeous, but I'm not Hisana. _

"I said no such thing," Kuchiki replied stiffly. "She is rough, uncouth, loud, an exhibitionist, in love with her taichō and a commoner."

_I am not! In love with my Captain at least. As for everything else…well yeah, pretty much true. I take no shame in any of it._

"Hitsugaya-taichō is enamoured with Kurosaki Karin and I have it on the highest authority that Matsumoto-fukutaichō has never been in love."

Don't ever get depressed around Ukitake. He has the irritating habit of asking about your problems in a way that makes you tell him.

"And is it Byakuya who can't stand those other qualities or is it the head of the Kuchiki family?"

In the resulting silence I became aware that Tōshirō had arrived and was talking pleasantly with Kiyone.

"I am not going through The Stage."

A chuckle. "Is that what I asked?"

More silence.

"Tell me the truth, Byakuya. What is it that's stopping you from loving her?"

There is no love! Sure, The Stage is all about falling in love, but it's an infatuation, an obsession. It's not _real. _

"She is not Hisana."

I'm not sure what it was, but something inside me suddenly hurt. _Well fuck you then!_

"That is not a good reason, and I don't believe for a second that it's the real one."

"Sensei—"

"You came to me for help, Byakuya, let me finish. You are afraid. That is the simple truth of it. You are afraid that she _is_ like Hisana and that she won't love you back."

"I never said anything of love."

I could just imagine Ukitake's gentle smirk. "It probably says more that you didn't. Was there anything else?"

"…Your health?" I was getting the feeling that Kuchiki didn't really want to leave.

"I'll cling to life a little longer yet." The sounds of people shuffling around towards the exit – it appeared Kuchiki would be leaving regardless of whether he wanted to or not. I scooted over to the edge of the roof and flipped my head over the side to watch.

Tōshirō was standing near Kiyone's desk, slightly uncomfortable as Kuchiki swept out of Ukitake's office-study-sickroom, followed by Ukitake himself.

"You could just tell her, Byakuya-kun." I grinned at the faint twitch on Kuchiki's face at the suffix.

"I will not," Kuchiki said succinctly. "It would be all over the Seireitei before the words left my mouth."

"I think she might surprise you, Bya-kun. For a start, don't you think she already knows?"

I slipped on the tiles and nearly tipped over the side of the roof. Ukitake, Kiyone and Tōshirō were all facing away from me, but I saw Kuchiki's eyes widen in recognition before I caught myself and resettled, heart beating fast.

I closed my eyes. "Shit." That was _not_ a conversation a person gets away with overhearing.

I didn't stick around to watch his reaction. In fact, I flash-stepped the hell out of there to seek refuge with Momo.

"I have the single most important piece of gossip a girl was ever sworn not to tell," I announced, flinging myself into her office. "Except that I wasn't – Momo?"

She was crying. And not tears of happiness either. No, this was the type of crying that comes with the quiet shaking and the pathetic whimpers. I _hate_ that kind of crying.

"Momo?" I repeated, slightly stupefied by the sight of one of the strongest women I knew crying.

"I don't love him anymore," she choked out. "I don't love him anymore."

Hoo boy.

I sat tentatively down on her desk and shifted the paperwork she was crying on out from underneath her. I pulled her into my breasts (here's where the Mother Earth thing comes in handy) and rubbed her back. Piece by piece, the story came out in a series of broken whispers.

I knew Momo had been in love with Aizen – well, Aizen's kindly face before he let the cat out of the bag. What I hadn't known was that Momo had _still_ loved that face.

"I know it was wrong of me, I know it was downright awful, but I couldn't help it. Feelings don't just – go away like that."

She'd lived with that secret for fourteen years. Fourteen years of hating herself for it. Suddenly I understood why her neat little bun was tied with a ribbon instead of that – whatever-it-is Aizen gave her (hey, I leave my hair out. I have no need for accessories). Why her fighting style had changed so drastically.

Why she refused the Captaincy of the Fifth.

She had distanced herself from everything Aizen in an effort to force herself to forget him.

"I can't…" She hiccupped. "I would love to lead this Division properly. I would love to be able to slip on that haori and know it was _mine_. But every time I go to accept the offer, every time I _see_ that five emblazoned on the back I want to die."

Except she didn't love him anymore.

"It was the strangest feeling. I went to see Kurosaki-kun as soon as he arrived, so I could take a piece out of him for hurting Shiro-kun and…I just went crazy. Here was the man who killed _him_. I couldn't help myself. And then once I'd gotten a few hits in and he managed to calm me down…it was gone. I don't love him anymore, and I don't know what to do with myself."

"So…" I drew the sound out. "Basically what you're saying is that you're free?"

She jerked her head up and stared at me with red-rimmed eyes. "Wh-what?"

"Momo. You were screwed over by that man for decades. He no longer has any hold over you. You – are – free."

Watching that sink in made comforting all of those weepy, snotty girls more than worth it.

"You're all right now?" I asked softly.

She smiled back at me. "I…I think I am. No, I know I am. Thank you, Rangiku."

"Good. That's great." I grinned. "Now, I'm off to dream up ways of killing Kuchiki Byakuya. You – you find something to do with yourself, 'kay?" I stood.

"I'll…it's been a long time since I've had a proper training session with the Division." She twisted her hair out of the bun and tied it up in a high pony tail. "I think Tobiume could use some more exercise."

I felt my eyebrows shot near up to my hairline. "Bankai? But you never—"

"Maybe it's time I did."

_This_ was the woman who led the Fifth Division. "Well, then." I turned to leave, then stopped. "Oh, and my taichō has had a rather drastic change of heart. It looks like Ichigo worked more than one miracle today."

Seeing the way her face lit up like that pretty much made my week.

xXx

**Omake**

I slipped on the tiles and somehow tipped right over the edge of the roof, landing in an undignified heap on the ground. It was only by the merest hint of luck that my boobs stayed where they're meant to.

I suddenly became aware of four sets of eyes on me. I scrambled to my feet and hastily waved a hand in front of my face.

"I am ninja. I am unremarkable. I am not here. I am one with the shadows."

Sweatdrops all round.

"Uh...you can all still see me, can't you."

Four nods.

"Fuck." Plan two.

I flash stepped the hell outta there.

_I know, it's a short chapter and I'm sorry, but either way I have to stop writing now, and if I stop and then start again tomorrow I'll lose my flow for this chapter. Plus, next chapter will be devoted entirely to Rangiku's and Byakuya's date. I'm dead on my feet, so I'll beg you for reviews and then toddle off to bed._


	7. Chapter 7

_I know Rangiku and Renji aren't all that close in the anime or manga, but please keep in mind that (a) war does brings people together and (b) it's been fourteen years since Renji's death from the wounds Gin gave him. That close relationship the desperation of war gave them that probably would have faded had Renji lived and the fact that Ran feels guilty about the way he died (guilt by association, as she sees it) have kind of created this closeness in her mind. If that makes sense._

_Anyway, Mum thinks I'm studying but I am NOT! Lol, I only need nine credits to pass the year now anyway. I'm totally sweet. Plus, I have six whole days off before the exams start and six days off in the middle of them as well. I'll be fine._

_Lol, can you tell I'm trying to convince myself here? Anyway, chapter seven!_

xXx

I felt oddly depressed for the next few days. My Captain had locked himself in our office and thrown himself in the four-year backlog of papers I didn't have the authority to even touch, let alone fill out. Of course I hadn't expected him to have one world-shaking conversation with Ichigo and then go back to normal, but it would have been nice. Hopefully, when he came out of that office things would be better. Until then I had an actual excuse for skiving off work and I intended to abuse it as best I could.

Unfortunately, something that put a rather heavy downer on this plan was the fact that Kuchiki had shut himself away in his own office; ergo, stalking opportunities were rather limited.

So I did what any sane, bored person would do and decided to get pissed out of my mind with the Friday-night drinking group.

The FNDG was something I'd started decades ago, after taking in the sad lumps of meat who sat around on weekends drinking themselves to a stupor – alone.

Not up for doing that this night, I wandered in the Rukongai.

xXx

I was hailed by a half-drunk Ikkaku as I entered the usual bar. The call was quickly picked up by Iba and soon the whole bar was singing my praises.

I grinned, signalling the barman to get me a bottle of sake as I sat down next to Ichigo, who had a rather smug looking Rukia on his lap. I raised an eyebrow at him and he glared, pulling his arms a tad closer around her waist.

"What?" he growled.

"Oh, nothing. Just strange to see you acting like a proper—"

Rukia thwapped her lover over the head. "Say hello to the woman before you glare at her, Ichigo," she scolded, before turning to me and smiling. "What were you saying, Rangiku?"

I laughed. "Doesn't matter, Rukia-chan. I was wrong."

Looking around the slightly lopsided circle of chairs around a square table, I noted that the group was at full capacity, although no one seemed to be drowning their sorrows. Shunsui was trying desperately to coax Nanao away from her paperwork to sit on _his _lap. She merely adjusted her glasses and refused, keeping an eye on him to make sure he didn't drink too much. Shūhei was there, and the Kotetsu sisters along with Rikichi, Renji's third replacement and the only one who looked like he was going to stay. He had dragged along his friend Hanatorō, third seat of the fourth Division and on the seat next to the Ichi-Ruki was a full bottle of sake – a silent testimony to Renji himself.

It was surprisingly easy to slip back into routine. Possibly because I _was_ drowning my sorrows. Well, not sorrows, exactly, but I definitely wasn't at my happiest. The disappearance of Kuchiki had unnerved me far more than I was willing to admit, so I was going to grasp with both hands at the peace found at the bottom of half a dozen sake bottles and become a rough, uncouth, loud, exhibitionistic commoner.

Except, oh dear, I forget! I'm already those things, aren't I. Fucking Kuchiki. How much time's passed now?

"Who?" Kiyone asked, blinking blearily at me. She was the only conscious person left, other than me; Ikkaku and Iba were passed out and everyone else had gone home.

I blinked blearily back at her and suddenly realised that not all my thoughts had been kept in my brain. If that made sense. "Kuchiki-_taichō_," I spat, "Bastard. He's such a bastard."

"Of course he is," Kiyone announced. "He's a Kuchiki. And a taichō. Ever noticed that most taichō are cold bastards who think that love is beneath them?"

I rolled my eyes and nearly fell out of my chair. "Ukitake-taichō doesn't think love's beneath him. He thinks he's beneath love. But yeah. Kuchiki. Real bastard. Fucker's been stalkin' me."

Kiyone burst into tears.

I waved my hand at the grinning barman. "' Nother one, please." Taking in the drunkenly sobbing Kiyone, I grimaced. "Two'd probably be better."

"Matsumoto-fukutaichō, I think that's—"

"A_nother_ one," I barked at him. "No, two. For Kiyone." For some reason Kuchiki's face was still swimming hazily at the forefront of my mind, and I wasn't happy about it. I stood to get the damn bottle myself and hit the ground almost immediately.

At least, that's what should have happened. Instead, I was caught by a pair of gloved hands and must have started hallucinating immediately, because there was no way Kuchiki Byakuya was in a Rukongai bar holding me up.

"Do you need to be walked home, Matsumoto?"

I exploded.

"Fuck you, Kuchiki! And y'know what, I can say that because I'm so unbelievably out of my mind that I'm imagining you're here. How _fucked up_ is that? I come here to get so totally pissed that I stop thinking about you and then you have the _gall_ to show up in my hallucinations anyway? I hate you! _'Do you need to be walked home, Matsumoto.'_ Only my mind could come up with some so _stupid_ for you to say, because you'd never care in real life. No, in real life I'm just a rough, _uncouth_, loud, exhib – exhib – fuck, _loud_ commoner! And you – you're a coward. A fucking _coward!_ And you're pissing me off because you're making me_ yell_ and I never yell."

I started laughing. "And this is so ridiculous, because you're not here, you're locked up in your damned mansion _ignoring _me and I'm so off my face that I think you're _here_ and that you _care_ and I don't even know why I want you to be because, fuckitall I am _not_ going through The Stage."

Silence.

"Is that all?"

"Yeah, that about it." Then I hurled on that thrice-damned white haori and the rest of the world hazed out.

xXx

When I woke up, everything was dry. My eyeballs were dry, by mouth was dry and thank the gods, so was my bed (it's been known to happen, alright?).

"Oh yeah. I remember this," I groaned, waiting for my eyes to refocus. When I finally became aware of my surroundings, I was surprised to find myself in my own bed in my small room instead of curled around a rubbish bin, having passed out from hurling.

Strange.

My door opened and then shut again.

"You're awake, then."

"T-taichō? What're you doing out of your office?" I croaked.

"Kuchiki carried you in at about four this morning and dragged me out." Tōshirō shrugged, handing me a steaming mug of black coffee. "I wasn't going to sleep anyway."

I smiled softly at him, sipping from the mug. "Thank you, taichō." Then I frowned. "Kuchiki-taichō?"

"He said something about his sister and Kurosaki coming to get him." Tōshirō concentrated on the ceiling suddenly, blushing. "I wasn't really paying attention."

I smiled again. "Aw, taichō. I didn't know you cared so much."

"Shut up," he groused, tossing me a round pill. I caught it with the hand not nursing the cup of coffee and blinked at it. "Kotetsu-fukutaichō said you'd want this." It was one of the Fourth Division energy pills.

I downed it with a gulp of coffee and immediately felt rejuvenated.

That's around about when I started to remember things.

I dropped the coffee, sitting bolt upright. Luckily my Captain's fast reflexes caught the coffee before it spilled, but the memories just kept coming.

"Oh, no." I whispered. "Oh, _no_. And then I threw _up_ on him!"

Tōshirō blinked.

"Taichō, what's the time?"

"Five in the afternoon, last time I checked, why? And who did you throw up on?"

I tossed the covers aside and shooed him out of the room so I could get dressed. Thankfully, I'd picked out the pink and white yukata the night before, knowing it was likely I wouldn't be up until the afternoon. Still, I hadn't expected to sleep in _this_ late. I shrugged into it, struggled with the obi then slung my pink scarf around my neck and flash-stepped out the window, coffee in hand.

It would have been half past five by the time I got to Renji's grave, and Kuchiki was nowhere in sight. I sighed, happy to have some time alone with my old friend.

"Oi Renji. Show some gratitude or something, I actually made it this year. With the yukata and everything." I sighed. "Not that I didn't want to come the other years, but…taichō got sick, I guess. Lovesick." I laughed. "Yeah, my taichō. You remember Ichigo's sister? That little brat Karin who was meaner than Zaraki Kenpachi. She was killed, four years ago. Really did a number on my little taichō, who's not so little anymore. Taller than me, now." I sat down carefully on the grave, next right in front of the simple marker. "Rukia and Ichigo are still together. I'm not sure if that would make you happy or angry. But she's happy. So I hope that means you are too. Never mind that you're a fourteen year old brat living in the physical world."

I took a sip of the cooling coffee and stared out at the Rukongai. "I hope I live long enough to see you come back, Renji. And don't tell me I'm being pathetic, I know I am. Blame your damn taichō, he's totally screwing me over. I'm remembering these – things. Things that happened that shouldn't matter anymore because they've happened. I'm being selfish in remembering them, I think." Another sip of coffee. "I've already dealt with it all, y'know? I pushed those memories away for a _reason._ I don't need them to come back now, even if that reason's redundant." I laughed again, shaking my head. "Ah, what d'you care? You're dead, I can remember you as much as I want. You're beyond my help."

"Fukutaichō."

I stood to attention instinctively at that voice. "Kuchiki-taichō." For some reason, however, I couldn't make myself look at him.

We stood there in an uncomfortable silence.

"You had something to show me."

"Hmm? Oh! Oh, yes. Of course. I did. Um…" I peered at him through my eyelashes, nervously this time as opposed to flirtatiously. "Follow me?"

"Is that a question?"

I almost imagined there was a hint of wry humour to his voice.

"No, it's not," I huffed. "Follow me, then. Unless you wanted to talk to Renji?"

A pause. "I've said all that can be said to him. Lead on, fukutaichō."

Okay, that vice-captain thing? Getting _really_ annoying.

We travelled in silence through the Rukongai, sticking to the rooftops so as to attract less attention. I'd never felt so awkward in my life, not even when Gin had walked in on me dancing naked in our shack.

I set down a little ways from the apple tree with him directly behind me.

"Well." I struggled not to stutter. "This is it."

I felt him take in the shack, the tree and the zanpkutō. "Whose grave?"

I blinked up at him and a large grin spread spontaneously across my face at his nonplussed look. "Mine, of course."

Needless to say, that took a bit of explaining.

"This is where Gin and I used to live," I told that look. "He found me out there—" I gestured out at the dead expanse past district eighty. "—and brought me back here. He climbed that tree and brought me apples. He stole blankets for me and let me take the best corner of the shack."

"And then he betrayed you."

I shrugged. "There was a lot more to Ichimaru Gin then that betrayal." I changed the subject abruptly. "What's it like? Being a taichō."

"Irritating."

I giggled a bit. "You sound like _my_ taichō." I thought about it. "Actually, you sound like all taichō. Why is it so annoying."

"Incompetence…irritates me."

I frowned. "You're Division isn't incompetent. In fact, I'd say it's probably the most well-ordered Division of them all. You should stop being so harsh on people."

He was silent for a long time, the type of silence that sounded like he was thinking. "What would you prefer, fukutaichō?" he asked finally. "That I preach justice and honour in the same way as Tousen? Tease them like Ichimaru, coddle them as Aizen did?"

"You are not going to betray them," I pointed out. "Are you?"

He twisted a bitter smile at me and possibly for the first time in my life I wished I could take my words back. "I have done a great deal of evil things in the name of good, fukutaichō. I would not intentionally betray them, but I can no longer say whether or not that is enough."

I turned my head up to face him. "It's strange. You're a man who has every reason to be confident in his status and abilities, yet you have the lowest self-esteem of anyone I've ever met. Except for perhaps Momo, but she has a good excuse."

"Nearly murdering my sister for the sake of the law is not a good excuse?" he enquired dryly.

"Oh, get over it," I snapped. This conversation was getting easier and easier. "That was over a decade ago and everyone involved has _forgiven_ you. You're not doing yourself any favours by wallowing in it."

Silence.

"You _so_ are," I insisted, hearing his unspoken protest.

"I am not.'

"You are! 'Oh, woe is me, I made a mistake!' Lots of people do it, with more regularity then you ever did. No harm came from it. In fact, quite a bit of good came from it."

Silence again.

"What mistakes did you make, Matsumoto?"

I waved a hand at the shack in front of us. "I trusted Gin." I laughed. "No one trusted Gin. He was fun to be around if he liked you and he really was a good taichō. But he wasn't to be trusted."

"You saved a great many lives with that trust, Matsumoto."

"Wh-what?"

"You trusted that Ichimaru wouldn't kill you. You went out to meet him, distract him, taunt him. What's more, you did try to kill him." He was staring, unseeingly, at the apple tree and the zanpakutō imbedded there. "You did what was required of you and even more than what was expected.'

I grinned. "Ichimaru's whore, yes?"

"Something like that."

"It's strange. No one ever called Renji names when they thought Rukia had betrayed us, and he did exactly the same as I did."

"The relationship between Renji and my sister was quite different from that of yours and Ichimaru's."

I started to laugh, hiding the slight pang of hurt at his assumption behind the cheerful sound. "Oh dear. You're one of those people who think Gin and I were lovers, aren't you." It wasn't a question. I already knew the answer.

"I'm not."

I stopped laughing. Blinked once or twice. "Sorry?"

"I am aware that you and Ichimaru were not lovers. I went to the Academy with the two of you. Some friendships turn into more. Yours was not one of them. But Renji and Rukia had not spoken since Rukia was adopted into my family and Renji was in love with Rukia, although she never knew it."

I smiled softly. "I'm glad you knew the truth. The dynamic between Gin and I was always easy to decipher if you just looked at it properly." I sighed. "Rukia never knew how Renji felt."

"Never thought to guess." There was a tinge of humour to his voice that was quickly lost with his next words. "She was enamoured with Shiba Kaien from the moment she met him."

"Jealous?" I teased.

"I was, although not for the reasons you're intimating."

I blinked again in surprise.

"She spent a great deal of time with Shiba and his wife."

"Time that she wouldn't spend with you," I surmised. "Is that why you were so angry at Ukitake-taichō when Kaien died?"

"Killing Shiba nearly ruined Rukia. I'm afraid that I said many things which should not have said to Ukitake-taichō, when he was feeling guiltier than I ever could."

"Guilty?" I felt my eyebrows shoot up. "You felt guilty?"

"Of course. Rukia is my sister, adopted or not. It is my job to protect her, and I failed miserably in that."

I thought about that. "She would have had to face something like that eventually."

Confusion.

"Everyone comes up against that one death that decides their future as a shinigami. I miss Kaien horribly, of course I do, but he was going to die anyway. His fate was decided the moment he went up against that hollow alone. And when he died, Rukia didn't give up or quit." I sighed happily. "It's nice to know something good came out of his death."

"You…have an odd way of looking at things."

"Do I really? Well, I do spend a lot of time with Eleventh Division…although, not so much in recent years." I meet his gaze. "Are you sure it's not you who has an odd way of looking at things?"

He looked away first. "Mayhap."

More silence. It appeared that I'd exhausted his conversation reserves.

"You overheard my conversation with Ukitake."

I blushed a bright red. Maybe I hadn't. "Uh…well…you've been stalking me!"

A raised eyebrow.

"Yes you have! Everywhere I turned, there you were – and then you _stopped._" I shook my head, realising it probably wasn't a smart thing to go off at the Sixth Division Captain.

"I would like to apologise."

"E-eh?" I accessed my inner Orihime.

"I should not have said those things about you."

I looked at my feet. "Well, it's not like you were wrong. I mean, I'm not in love with my taichō," I said hastily. "But those others things? That's who I am. And if you don't like that…well…actually, I have no threat to make, because I don't know what you want."

"That, then, would make two of us."

xXx

**Omake**

_Byakuya's POV_

"Jealous?" she teased.

"I was."

Inner Byakuya: Oh my god, shut up.

"But not for the reason you're intimating."

Inner Byakuya: What are you doing? Shut up, shut up, shut _up._

…

"Guilty?" Her eyebrows shot up. "You felt guilty?"

"Of course."

Inner Byakuya: OH MY GOD, WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM? WHY WON'T YOU SHUT UP?

_Ahem…Byakuya's inner terror at speaking about himself. Or speaking at all, really._

xXx

_Whoa! I just realised that for a split second there this chapter looked like a scene out of my original fiction, Insanity of Heroes. Rangiku was even channelling Jimena! Which...is actually a very bad thing, but it works here, so I won't change it._

_So, that's chapter seven, and it's a long one to! I have absolutely no idea when I'll update next, so I'll make no promises._

_But! Reviews make me happy and smile and want _more_ reviews which in turn makes me write when I should be studying which means an update!_

_Lol. Thanks for reading._


	8. Chapter 8

_**Important: **__It may appear that Rangiku's personality takes a drastic change here. It doesn't. Basically, she suffers a minor overload/breakdown. She's been through a war, and has been suppressing memories since far before that. She's mentioned the phobia once before to Byakuya, in passing. This chapter is a lot angstier than the others. This is where the drama part of romance/drama comes in. If you cannot handle the fact that some people aren't all they appear to be and that Ran does actually have some deep-seated issues which have been hinted at before, piss off. I know it seems rude, but so are people calling me names because of the way I write my stories. I am so, so sick of the negativity in my life right now, I really don't need it from the one place that makes me feel good about myself._

_So, with the dumping of my issues over, I give you chapter eight!_

xXx

The days after my conversation with Byakuya were…disconcerting, to say the least. I could only hope that he figured out what he wanted soon, because I had no idea what I was after.

Rumours were flying over the scene I'd made at the bar. They went from a drunken proposition on my part to a secret tryst between my Captain and The Man Whose Facial Expression Never Changes (Byakuya), which had ended four years ago, breaking my Captain's heart (hence the reason he'd been such a bitch) and resulting in me ripping a drunken piece out of the nobleman because of it all.

Needless to say, I didn't tell Tōshirō.

Although, something I found rather amusing was that none of the rumours had me sober. I mean, I _wasn't_, but did everyone really expect me to fall off the wagon as soon as my Captain showed some semblance of normality? I'm not sure whether that should be a blow to my ego or a boost.

But with no paperwork screaming at me and my Captain safely sane again, I decided to ignore all those rumours and instead sit down in my small room, far away from any type of alcoholic substance with a large block of chocolate and attempt to sort the whole Byakuya thing out in my head.

First off, I examined Nanao's theory that I was going through The Stage. I didn't _think_ I was, but then again I didn't _think_ Karin's death would affect Tōshirō all that bad and here we are four years later with him only just having come back from the other side of sanity. I'd be irritated to find that I was, though. I rather liked to think I was less fickle than that.

"_Well ain't ye just a fickle bitch." The smell of cheap sake nearly smothered me as a huge man leered over me._

"_G-Gin? Gin where are you?"_

"_Ah, 's'at th' lil bastard's name? I'll teach him to keep 'is 'ands off _my_ whore."_

_I spat at him, hoping he'd let me go in surprise. He didn't. "Gin!" The bastard backhanded me across the face and I nearly choked on blood._

"_Sorry Ran, tad busy right now! Hold on a sec or two, yeah?" I heard the sound of that sword of his being drawn even as the brute fumbled with the hem of my smock._

"_I ain't nobody's whore," I babbled, struggling futilely. "I weren't even lookin' atcha mista, I swear!"_

_There were screams behind me and I could only hope they weren't Gin's. I squeezed my eyes shut as the drunkard fumbled at my loincloth and prayed it'd be over quick._

_There was a strange whistling sound, a crunch and a thunk. Suddenly I was soaking wet, and when I cracked open an eye, the brute had no head._

_A pair of arms grabbed me around the waist and yanked me back. I screamed and fought like a hellcat until I heard Gin's voice._

"_Damn, Ran-chan, when I said hold on, I didn' mean t' _him_."_

_I bent over in his arms and retched on my would-be rapist. Gin pulled me back and wiped my mouth with his sleeve._

"_I want one o' them." I nodded at his sword. "'Cos you _suck_ at protectin' me."_

_For a split second his eyes opened in surprise and I caught sight of beautiful blue-green before he shut them again and grinned. "We'll work on it, Ran. C'mon, let's go home."_

This was so – ridiculous! I pushed all of these memories aside for a reason. They were indulgent, _selfish_. Being a born self-absorbed person, I had to work that little bit harder for it to not to seep through.

I took a bite of the chocolate, flopping back down on my bed and pouting at the ceiling. Mind back on track. Kuchiki Byakuya. To be or not to be going through The Stage.

I dragged out every thought even minimally related to my situation, including those dreams which, paired with the chocolate (aphrodisiac), was probably a bad idea. I was feeling a tad breathless by the time I was done sifting through everything, but I could happily conclude that I was _not_ going through The Stage.

What I could not-so-happily conclude was that it might be something deeper.

"_Get some help, Rangiku."_

"_For what? I'm _fine_."_

"_You're not fine!" Momo caught my arm and pulled me back. I was so shocked at this unexpected action that I actually let her do it. "This is going to work itself deeper and deeper if you don't talk to someone about it, and when it all comes crashing down, Rangiku, it's going to really _crash_. Take it from someone who knows. For crying out loud, you haven't left this room since the war died down!"_

"_What are you, Fourth Division now?" The way I said it made it an insult, and I winced. "I have a phobia. It has nothing to do with Gin. Damnit, why does everyone expect me to fall apart just because he's dead? It's been half a year. I'm _dealing_ with it. Do I _look_ like you?"_

_Her eyes filled with tears suddenly and I could have killed myself. I was meant to look after Momo, _protect _her from the people who said stuff like that, not say it myself. Then she shook her head stubbornly and glared up at me._

"_Right now, you're doing a fairly good impression. _Denial_. We're all worried about you."_

_I stared at her for a long time, then jerked my arm out of her grasp, slowly working my face into a soft smile._

"_You're not meant to be worrying about me, Momo. You should be healing."_

_She shot me a disgusted look. "Don't give me that. And I'm not the only one worried, everyone else is too. Nanao-san, Isane-san, Ikkaku, Iba, Hisagi-senpai. Shirō-chan."_

"_It's my job to do the worrying, Momo," I said impassively. "Earth mother, remember? It comes with the boobs. I look after you, not the other way around."_

"_So who is it, exactly, that looks after you Rangiku?"_

I swore, hurling my chocolate across the room. Then I swore again, shoving myself off the bed and padding across the room to pick it up. Thankfully it was still intact. I took a large, aggressive bite and chewed angrily.

This was beyond ridiculous. It was insane, although I hoped not in a complete literal sense. It was like I had – trigger words or something! Half the memories didn't have anything to do with my thought process at the time.

…_it's going to really crash._

"Oh, shut up," I grumbled out loud, eating more chocolate. What was this, an issue fest? Oh, how about I invite the remnants of my phobia to go full blown again, hmm? Or maybe, just maybe I could _fall in love and totally screw up my life._

Except, oh fuck, I've already done that.

…_it's going to really crash._

"Stupid fucking goddamn piece of _shit!_" I yelled suddenly. "I don't need to be in love! I don't have the time! I don't have the mental capacity! I have to keep my taichō sane, look after Momo, look after everyone _else_ and keep a whole host of subordinates alive at the same time. _I can't do this!_"

…_it's going to really crash._

There was a noise outside of my door and I braced myself for my Captain or someone to come barging in, demanding to know what the noise was, but nothing happened.

I sat down on the middle of the floor and buried my face in my hands.

"Shut up, Matsumoto," I whispered to myself. "It's just memories. You've been in more life threatening situations than beds. It's just memories."

…_it's going to really crash._

"You're being pathetic," I breathed. "Bet you can't even leave the room right now."

And it was true. I looked at the door and it grew in size, became far more daunting then any door had a right to be. Out there…was out there. Space, for ages, in all directions. And people.

"_Oi, Ran-chan?"_

"_Mm?"_

"_It's been near on a year since I found ya, right?"_

"_So?" I prepared myself for whatever prank would come next._

"_So yer birthday should be pretty soon."_

_I stared at him. "I don' got a birthday, Gin."_

"_Eh!" For the first time I saw his eyelids flutter in surprise and his smile faltered. "Ya don' got one?"_

"_Don' got one, don' need one," I told him proudly. "I'm as old as I wanna be, me."_

"_Not as old as me, I bet."_

"_Am so!"_

"_Ain't."_

"_Am so!"_

"_Well I say ya ain't, cos my birthday's tomorrow, and yers is in three weeks!" His face resettled into the fox mask. "So there."_

"_Gin, I told ya! I don' _got_ one!"_

"_Do too, cos I just gave ya one." The grin widened. "Day we met, firs' day o' spring."_

I didn't question it, when that door, that huge door opened and he walked through it. Instead I lunged at him, taking a fistful of his haori and with a broken cry started to sob into his shoulder.

I don't know if it was shock of something else, but after a beat or two his hand came up and gingerly anchored itseld in my hair, cradling my head.

I broke.

xXx

_Hmm…cliffy or no cliffy? I can't quite tell. I guess…in a way…maybe?_

_-Ducks-_

_Well, I hope it was insightful, at least. It gets a lot more romantic from here on out, but those of you who have read Lost And Found will know that there are also periods of bad angst like this. _

_Thanks for reading, and please review!_


	9. Chapter 9

**OMG JUST HAD A TOTAL FREAKOUT MOMENT! LATEST CHAPTER OF BLEACH AND BYAKUYA…HE…**

_And here I stop, as I wouldn't want to spoil it for those of you who haven't read 299. But it's definitely worth the read, I'll tell ya. My heart nearly stopped._

_**Alright, this is where the M rated bit comes in**__. I skimped on the actual sex, because let's face it, sex isn't all _that_ pretty. In fact, probably skimped on the foreplay as well, but I still think I did a pretty good job, considering it's my first het sex scene…MILESTONE. Please ignore the fact that there is no actual detailing on the act itself. Lol._

_Ran's mood improves steadily throughout the chapter and in case that seems strange, well, she's explained it before. Rangiku likes sex. _

_Chapter nine, my lovelies._

xXx

Face turned upward, lips seeking lips, it was all a blur to me as I kissed Byakuya and to my everlasting shock, he kissed me back.

I didn't have it in me to resist. The fight was gone out of me, I had succumbed to selfish whims, and I was loving every minute of it.

_This_ was what I needed to forget.

He pulled back, presumably to say something, but I chased his mouth with mine, kissing him again, once, softly.

"Don't. Just – don't," I breathed, trailing butterfly kisses up and along his jaw line. "Don't speak. If you're going to leave, do it now. I need…" I shuddered slightly, twining my arms around his neck and pulling him closer.

I felt his lips on my throat, pressing feather light against my pulse point.

"Very well."

I should have hated the way he sounded as if he had just entered a business arrangement, but I was beyond caring. At that moment, the only thing I wanted wasto _not_ care.

I drew back, letting my scarf trail to the ground as I started to slip out of my kimono. A pair of gloved hands closed lightly around my wrists and I blinked up at his impassive face in surprise as he let go. Did he not want this after all?

He was unreadable as a bare hand reached up to brush a curl of hair behind my ear. A thumb ran down the side of my throat and I shuddered once again as it trailed along my collarbone to where my kimono had slid off my shoulder.

As he gently drew it down, baring more skin, I suddenly figured out what he was doing.

He was un_dressing_ me.

I could have cried. What I had meant to be a hard, frenzied act of desperation was slowly turning into something worse than what I was trying to forget and I didn't have it in me to stop him.

I reach out tentatively and unwound his scarf from his neck. He didn't stop me. I spared a thought for the fact that that I was holding ten Kuchiki mansions worth in my hands before letting it flutter to the ground. It settled near my own as I skimmed my hands across his chest and under his haori. He paused, moving his arms to slip the white coat off. It crumpled to the ground next to the scarf.

I fisted my hands in his shihakushō and dragged him down for another kiss. I could feel a fog, slowly, starting to cloud my mind and I smiled against those delicious lips as he eased them over my own. His hands were at my waist, tugging me softly closer but I wriggled out of his hold, drawing him back towards the bed. There was a twitch of his lips that didn't belong in the kiss and the next thing I knew I was being cradled like a bride, still kissing at an odd angle. He set me down on the bed, an indescribable light in his eyes as I had to blink away a tear from my own.

He was treating me like the fragile princess I never had been and never would be. It was sweet and beautiful and absolutely bloody _terrifying_ that I almost didn't see him start to remove his shihakushō.

Never once, in all of my many, _many_ trysts has a man undressed himself before I was naked. They've always been so eager to have me unclothed, to see the rest of the gift that's always been so tantalizing, partially unwrapped. But this man, this closed-off, stoic man was making himself vulnerable before me, giving me everything I needed and nothing I'd wanted or asked for.

This turn of events was actually having a positive effect on me. After all, I was getting it on with _Kuchiki Byakuya_. Never mind that I was losing my mind and in a totally unknown situation; no one ever said that Matsumoto Rangiku wasn't up for a challenge. I felt a smile spreading across my lips as he divested himself of his kimono.

"I think I'm feeling a bit better now," I whispered, drinking in the sight of his lithe form, muscles gliding under white silk skin.

"Is that so." It wasn't a question, and if he wasn't a Kuchiki I swear there would have been a 'duh' on the end of it.

"It is," I affirmed, reaching for his arms and bringing him to me, on top of me. His lips found the shoulder he'd bared before and followed the path his thumb back to my collarbone. I moaned softly, knotting my hands into his hair and coming into contact with the kenseikan. I ignored it in favour of concentrating on the sensations pooling at the pit of my stomach. My fists clenched and suddenly there was a quiet crack and bits of kenseikan came away in my hands.

I started to giggle, It really was just too funny. "Serves you right for keeping it in," I murmured.

"I forgot," he admitted, reaching his own hand up to brush the remnants from his hair. It brushed against my own and I shivered, the smile dropping off my face as our eyes met.

_What happens after this?_

_Who cares? Sex with Kuchiki Byakuya!_

…_I do…_

"You look better without it anyway," I finally said.

I didn't get an answer, but then again I wasn't expecting one.

His hand touched my left shoulder, lightly, and the only way I knew it was because I saw it. "Did you forget?" I asked softly.

"No." And there was no further explanation than that as he drew apart my kimono, allowing my breasts to spill out.

It hurt a bit, what with me lying on my back, but instead of pulling at them like most of my previous bed partners, he ran light fingers over them before lowering his mouth to lave at a nipple. I jerked a bit, the heat intensifying as his aristocratic hands continued to tease. My own fingers traced up muscled arms to grip his shoulder as he moved lower.

I arched at the felt of his lips on my stomach, hands running desperately into his hair as the pleasure spiked. Usually I would be giving as much as I took, but there was nothing usual about this situation and I had the feeling that while Byakuya would _enjoy_ it, he didn't particularly want to.

I should have resented that, but I didn't. I was too busy being selfish.

My mind blurred from there as I rid him of his hakama and he stripped me of my remaining clothes. Hell, not just my mind, I was so lost in sensation that everything else blurred as well until I was lost in pure colour and feeling and the odd moan or sigh or soft word from myself that I had no control over and didn't _want_ to control.

It was selfish. But as I came down from the beautiful high, I thought, _who the fuck cares?_

_Not me._

xXx

"Mmm…" I stretched my arms over my head and sucked in a lungful of air, knocking my curtains aside as I did so and sending a stream of sunlight into the room. Yawning, I rolled over and away from it, meeting empty space.

It took a few seconds for me to register why the fact that my bed was empty of all occupants except myself was an _important_ fact. Then memories of the previous night rolled over in my head and I was torn between swearing, crying or gloating.

Then I spotted the scarves lying on the ground.

It was easy to appreciate the symbolism. Byakuya's silk scarf that cost more than the entire bloody Seireitei was folded neatly, my cheap scarf made of Rukongai pink cotton draped over the top of it.

I got out of bed, ripped the curtains and nets open and allowed the sunlight to caress my body. I felt deliciously loose and boneless all over, as if there were no muscles to be tense. It was actually quite strange – after a four year drought, _something_ should have been hurting, but Byakuya had been incredibly considerate.

My musings were interrupted by a new recruit who passed by on his way to early morning training and promptly fainted.

I rolled my eyes, pulling the nets back but leaving the curtains open before surveying my room. Well. As I was a vice-captain, it happened to be a tad more than a room. In fact, it was basically a tiny self contained flat that just happened to be situated in the barracks, complete with a tiny kitchenette.

Generally I went to the public baths in the morning, although if I was desperate I would go to my house. But only if I was desperate – the place gave me the creeps. It wasn't even cute like Nanao's cottage. No, Isshin, my previous Captain, had insisted that 'nothing but the best' was suitable for his 'precious Ran-chan'. Believe it or not, I knew _exactly_ how Nanao felt. Although, Isshin enjoyed paperwork more than any sane person had a right to.

So I ended up with a two story monstrosity of a house with a bedroom that took up half the top floor. I couldn't imagine being in there for more than half an hour, let alone living in there, so I closed most of it off and used the remaining space, as I had told Byakuya, as a wardrobe.

I blinked. The sheet on my bed was different from the one that had been there before. For a start, it was clean. Now, sex was many things, but clean wasn't one of them. I glanced sideways at the scarf on the floor and smiled softly. Bending over, I picked it up and let it run over my fingers. It felt like a butterfly's whisper.

_BANG!_

The door crashed open, hit the wall and bounced back a bit as Hinamori Momo strode into the room, followed by Rukia, Kiyone, Isane with Nanao and her book bringing up the rear.

I blinked again.

"Rangiku, things have gone too far," Momo announced as Kiyone and Rukia barricaded the door. Where did they find that wood? Or the hammers, for that matter. "We're staging an intervention."

Isane had moved around behind me to guard the window and there was no other escape. Also, I was naked.

I shrugged, bosom heaving. "Alright then."

They stared.

"Mind if I put some clothes on first?"

I just so happened to be looking at Rukia when I said that. I grinned as slowly, _slowly_ she took in the fact the (a) I was indeed minus clothing and (b) the only thing protecting my rather dubious modesty was her brother's ten-mansion scarf.

Her eyes went as wide as they could possibly go. Considering it was Rukia, that was pretty wide.

"Rangiku," Nanao asked, disturbingly pleasant. "Isn't that Kuchiki-taichō's scarf?"

"It...may be…" I wandered over to my wardrobe, pulled out a spare uniform and struggled into it.

Silence.

"Incidentally, what was it you were intervening on?"

"We heard you yesterday!" Kiyone cried.

"Having sex?"

"You had _sex_ with Nii-sama?" Rukia blinked. Then she twitched.

"_What?_" This was the collective reaction of everyone else except for Nanao, who merely adjusted her glasses.

"How much do you owe Shunsui now?" I teased.

"Nothing. In fact, he owes me the paperwork for the next week."

"You bet in _favour_ of sex for once?"

"Of course. I was the one who went to get Kuchiki-taichō, after all."

It was my turn to stare.

"Perhaps we should take turns?" Isane suggested.

Momo glared at me, looking disturbingly cute in a menacing sort of way, what with her hair up in its usual bun and the ends of her curled blue ribbon brushing her neck. "Truthful turns," she insisted.

I raised an eyebrow, then sighed, flopping backwards onto my bed. "I bet you all want me to start, don't you?"

Nods all 'round, so I did.

I explained everything to them. My overly selfish tendencies, the memories I'd forcibly suppressed and had started remembering again, and…well…

"You think you've fallen in love with Kuchiki-taichō," Nanao surmised. "And now you're feeling guilty?"

"Eh? Ran-chan's going through The Stage?" Kiyone exclaimed.

Nanao appraised me. "No, I think she means somewhat different from that." The look my oldest friend was giving saw through my very soul. "Well, you're right. Love is a very selfish thing."

"Nanao, you're meant to be making me feel better about this, not rubbing it in that I'm a horrible person!"

Momo struggled with that. "A horrible person? For falling in love?"

"Don't you know how that feels, Momo?" I asked her.

"No, I don't. I never felt horrible for falling in love with him. I felt horrible for still loving him when I shouldn't have."

"So you do know! I _shouldn't_ love him."

Her brow furrowed. "Why…not?"

"If you would let me finish, Rangiku?" Nanao asked pointedly.

"Ah…or course, Nanao-chan."

"Right. Well, as I was saying, love is selfish. That doesn't make it bad, Rangiku. With the type of advice you've been giving people over the years, I'd have thought you'd know that."

"Yes, but—"

"That's other people, no?"

I looked at my feet. "You don't know what it's like. When Momo went crazy, sometimes…sometimes the only thing I could think of was how hard it was on me, trying to bring her out of it. When Gin was skewering all of those low-level shinigami, I could only concentrate on how much it was hurting me. I was _relieved_ when Tōshirō apologised, not just because he was getting back to normal but because I wouldn't have to do the paperwork anymore."

"Oh, the horror," Rukia drawled in the best rendition of Ishida Uryū I'd ever heard. "You're a normal soul, Rangiku."

"Was it Gin who put you through the wringer like that?" Kiyone inquired. "Or did you do it all by yourself?"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm Fourth Division," Isane supplied. "Even though as fukutaichō I don't have to clean the sewers, I must be a good example and do it anyway. Don't you think I resent that some – most of the time?"

"There were times when I hate Ichigo," Rukia said softly. I gaped. "Yes. I don't ever regret meeting him, but…he took my power and then surpassed it. I have had to work constantly to prove my power. People instinctively know upon seeing him that he possesses it in far greater amounts than I." She sighed. "It is an equal relationship in everything else but that one thing we cannot change. I no longer feel those odd moments of hate, but I'm still jealous, often. I don't think that makes me a bad person."

For the next hour I sat there in astonished silence as my friends revealed things that, had I thought them, I would have hated myself for. They…they didn't though. And before I would have thought that it was because it was _them_ and not me, but Momo, of all people, pressed into me just how hypocritical I was being.

"It's an insult to them and to us," she explained. "I know you don't expect everyone to live up to your standards, but that still implies our standards are lower than yours."

"There's no way a person can escape being selfish," Nanao summed up.

"I…no one ever taught me that," I said quietly. "I'm…hell, it's Tōshirō all over again, isn't it? Except he only lived with blame for four years. I've been doing this my entire _life_." A thought hit me over the head. "Why didn't I start remembering before now?"

"You told me once that you'd never been in love before, Rangiku," Nanao said. "Love being an inherently selfish thing, I'd say that when you started to fall for Kuchiki-taichō, the subconscious restraints you placed on yourself rebelled against it and the strain was just too much. Hence the memories."

"Right…and the phobia?" I found it rather odd that it was Nanao explaining this to me, not Isane, but then again Isane never specialized in the mind and Nanao had been conversing with dead scholars for centuries.

Nanao shrugged. "Stress. You said it always shows up in some form when you're under pressure. Does the door scare you now?"

I looked at the door. "Other than the fact that it's got nails sticking out of it?"

Rukia and Kiyone blushed.

"Right." I toyed with Byakuya's scarf, mulling over what my friends had pummelled into my poor brain. "So. I have issues. Do you…do you think I need therapy or something."

"I rather think you've found your own form of therapy, Rangiku," Nanao said dryly.

Kiyone grinned. "Oooooo, yes! Sex with Kuchiki Byakuya, Ran-chan. Spill it all!"

Rukia twitched again.

"Out of respect for Rukia's state of mind, I think I'll pass. Plus, it's private."

Nanao raised an eyebrow at me. Sex was never private with me.

Well. I'd tell _her_ later, maybe. When Shunsui was far, far away. But this…this really _was_ important to me. I wasn't about to prove Byakuya right and blab it to the whole Seireitei.

"Anyway," I continued. "I've done enough sharing for a lifetime. In fact, that _was _a lifetime's worth of sharing. So. Are you lot going to tell me which one of you was outside my room last ight and why exactly it was necessary for Nanao-chan here to fetch the inestimable Kuchiki-taichō?"

Blushes all 'round.

"Well…this may have also doubled as a matchmaking exercise…" Momo admitted.

xXx

_Jesus up a tree, this chapter took forever. I never realised how much _harder_ het sex was to write. Maybe because I'm a girl and there' actually a girl in this situation? And I know it wasn't a real sex scene, but still. It was my first time! I am not longer a het-sex-scene-virgin._

_Goodness, but isn't that a mouthful?_

_But seriously, that scene? Took two days to write, I was doing like, a sentence ever half hour or hour or so. Didn't want to make it too cheesy, but in the process…_

_IT THINKS! THE SEX THINKS! IT'S OT MEANT TO THINK, THE SEX IS MEANT TO FEEL!_

_I'm mildly disappointed in myself, but at my current stage of immaturity, it's about the best I can manage. I hoped you liked the whole chapter and for the love of god, review. I need feedback on such an endeavour. _

_Signing out! No longer a het-sex-scene-virgin, Feilyn!_

_Lmao._


	10. Chapter 10

_**Oh my god, Kubo, you **_**are**_** trying to murder me, aren't you? Chapter 301 is awesome. **__Although I don't understand why the Espada doesn't just go for Byakuya's head as well._

_Piece of advice. SAVE YOUR WORK! See, I have a laptop and an inherent lazy nature. So instead of shutting thing down, I just close the lid when I'm down and then pick it up later. Except, when I do this too much it freezes and I have to shut the fucker down by removing the battery. And Word does do an auto-recovery, but the thing is that I had about 6 Word documents open when I shut it the night before and couldn't be bothered checking them all. Thus, I forgot that I was almost finished with this chapter and deleted it. __**So this explains the late update**__, but I also found it an incredibly difficult chapter to write as it's more of a filler than anything else, but one of those necessary interim ones. I don't think it will reach 2000 words, unfortunately, but I'll try._

_Exams are going all right. Not brilliant, but alright. I think I'll pass most of them?_

_Also, Nanao is a bit OOC in this chapter and unfortunately I can't find it in myself to care. Accept it anyway, please? For me? _

_Anyway. Chapter 10! We've reached double digits, people!_

xXx

Rukia blasted the wooden barricade off the door and everyone bar Nanao walked out in a somewhat orderly fashion.

After all that, it turns out they'd been taking turns spying on me. Caught up in Byakuya and losing my mind, I hadn't even noticed. Rukia was assigned to me the night I got piss drunk and she had dragged Ichigo (why _he_ was involved nobody quite knew) up to the Kuchiki Manor and dragged Byakuya back with them and tossed him into the bar.

As for yesterday, that noise I heard outside my door before (or in the process of) going totally nuts? Yeah, it was Momo and Kiyone, who then called a meeting which resulted in Nanao tapping Byakuya and the shoulder and very calmly telling him that 'Rangiku is going insane, go fuck her please.'

Okay, perhaps those weren't her exact words, but you get the idea.

"Well?"

"Well, what?"

She raised an eyebrow at me. I _hate_ it when she does that.

I pottered around the kitchenette for a few seconds, uncomfortable. "I don't _know_ what happens next, alright?" I burst out.

"I didn't say a word," she said evenly.

"I hate you."

"No you don't."

I stuck my tongue out. "You're right, but I'd like to." Wandering over to her, I flopped back down on my bed and sighed. "You have any suggestions?"

Nanao looked pointedly at Byakuya's scarf. "I'd say he's given you the perfect excuse to go after there and talk it out."

I blinked, once, twice. "I'm sorry?"

She adjusted her glasses. "Falling in love doesn't mean an entire personality transplant."

"Eh?" Hell, was I always this stupid or was my brain making a special effort?

The other vice-captain shook her head, irritated. "When have you ever been the type of person to let a man dictate your life, Rangiku? Generally you chase whoever you want and damn the consequences."

I sat back a little. "Hnh." Pause. "But this is _Kuchiki Byakuya._"

The eyebrow rose again. "He's a man, isn't he?"

I thought about that, turned it around a bit until suddenly it made sense.

"Kuchiki Byakuya."

"Yes."

"Man."

"Yes."

I grinned wickedly. "Matsumoto Rangiku. Man-eater."

"Exactly."

Inside, everything was just sort of slotting back in the right places. My life picked itself up and pulled itself back together. Nanao was right. She was _so _right. Byakuya wasn't sure what he wanted?

Well. I'd _make _him sure.

"Oh, dear." Nanao looked faintly worried.

"Hm?"

"Poor Rikichi. I imagine Kuchiki-taicho's going to be a tad distracted for the next few weeks."

I winked at her. "Weeks? Nanao-chan, give me some credit here."

She smiled at me. "Years, then," she conceded.

We laughed a bit and then sat in companionable silence until Nanao got that _look_ on her face, the one that said she wanted to ask something but wasn't sure how to go about it. I decided to put her out of her misery.

"It really was brilliant, but…in a way I'd never thought about before?"

"Hmm?"

"Oh, don't try to pretend you're not interested," I laughed.

She pursed her lips but looked at me expectantly. I lay back against the pillows, trying ignore the sudden image of exactly what had happened on that bed the night before and smiled at the ceiling. "He was…he treated me like I was something precious, you know? Like, if he wasn't careful with me, I would break."

"I know exactly what you mean." She got that far away look in her eyes that meant she was thinking about Shunsui. "So, you really do love him."

"Looks likely, doesn't it?" I kept smiling. "It was really nice. I mean, it was passion and all that too, but…" I trailed off. "Maybe he's just used to a smaller partner."

Nanao thwapped me with her fan. "Or maybe he's just that kind of person, Rangiku. Or maybe, even, it's because you're your kind of person." She stood. "I'm off to collect my winnings from Shunsui. You're going to be alright?"

I glanced over at Byakuya's scarf.

"I think I'm gong to be just fine."

xXx

It wasn't going to be like last time. No, this time, I was going to have a Plan. Plan, not an Operation, and in order to have a Plan, I needed the Thirteenth Division. Or, more specifically, Ukitake and Rukia.

"Oi, Ichigo! Where're you headed?" It was the day after the 'intervention' – hey, after several mind-blowing revelations who _wouldn't_ take a day off before planning a…well, a Plan?

The Deathberry was walking toward me, trademark scowl etched on his face. "Thirteenth," he said shortly. "And then home."

I raised my eyebrows, falling into step with him. "I know it's been a short visit and a long time until you'll see Rukia again, Ichigo, but you're not usually this uptight."

He grunted. "'S not just that, Ran-chan. Yama-jii's been bugging me about the taichō thing again. Guess he keeps forgetting that I'm still alive and have responsibilities back home. Like the clinic." He shook his head angrily. "I swear the man thinks I'm still fifteen."

"When your age is measured in millennia, Deathberry, I'd say fifteen and thirty look pretty similar. Although—" I leaned in close, inspecting his head. "—is that a few grey hairs I see?"

He waved me a way. "If you knew my father, you'd have a few greys as well."

I swatted him over the head. "I do know your father, brat. He was taichō of the Tenth Division before Tōshirō, remember?"

"Did you just call me a brat?"

"I'm about three centuries older than you, Ichigo, and I worked with your father. I'd say I'm entitled to call you whatever I feel like."

He cocked an eyebrow at me and whistled. "Three centuries, eh? You're—"

"Finish that sentence, _brat_, and you'll be singing soprano in your afterlife."

He grinned at me. "Good to see you're feeling better. Rukia was saying something about you being down, and damn, did you get drunk that night."

I stretched lazily. "Yeah, good sex tends to have that effect on people. Make them feel better, that is."

He choked on what appeared to be his own saliva. "I didn't need to know that."

"Maybe it wasn't just that it was good sex," I mused, giving him a sideways glance. His face was growing steadily redder. "Could have been the partner. I mean, Kuchiki Byakuya is—"

This time he choked on air.

It was fairly safe to tell Ichigo, considering Rukia would have told him anyway. Well, once she got over the shock herself. I frowned, absentmindedly asking if the Deathberry was alright. What if Rukia _wasn't_ over the shock? I needed her help on this Plan, damn it.

"Ah, Ichigo? Are – are you alright?"

I blinked. _I know that sweetness and light voice!_ "Orihime-chan?"

"Rangiku!" And Ishida Orihime barrelled into view, boobs flouncing. I squealed, running towards her and we gave each other the Sisterhood of the Well-Endowed patented hug.

"Orihime-chan, what are you doing here?"

"Mn, well, I knew Ichigo was coming back today and it's the school holidays so I don't have to work so I thought, why not make a visit? It would save Ukitake-taichō from opening another gate, see? Um…" She looked over at Ichigo himself, who had managed to catch his breath. "Is he okay?"

I winked at her. "I may have hugged him a bit too hard, but he's fine now. Why don't you go and say your hello's and good-bye's while I go ahead to Thirteenth? I have something I need to take to Rukia about."

"Okay then!" And she smiled at me with the Full Orihime Dazzle Effect (it's like its own, separate attack) and babbled her way over to Ichigo who grinned at her, ruffling her hair and messing up her clips.

Wasn't he the one complaining about being treated like a teenager? Then again, it's hard not to want to ruffle Orihime's hair or pull her cheeks. She's just so damned _cute_.

And, as I reminded several passing shinigami men whose eyes lingered a touch to long, very, very taken. _Ishida doesn't really need an excuse to kill shinigami, but those idiots are all obliviously giving him one_.

I couldn't keep the smile off my face as I flash-stepped the rest of the way to Thirteenth. Orihime did that to people, but especially me. The woman had been an anchor for me over the past four years, coming for visits during the holidays when she didn't have to work and Ishida could look after their two gorgeous twins. I didn't have much time to talk back with her, but she would sit on a stool next to my desk and chatter at me about her students, her children, her husband and life in general. And she would cook! Custard and miso ramen with chocolate-curry cake for dessert!

_I wonder if she wouldn't mind cooking again for me this time? She can stay in my house; it's not like anyone's using it._

I touched down outside the Thirteenth Division's compound and burst in on Rukia.

"In the name of sake, Rukia, you'd better be over your shock by know, because I need a plan. No, a _Plan_."

A somewhat terrified lower seat looked at me. "Uh…Rukia-fukutaichō is with Ukitake-taichō out in the grounds."

I frowned. "Where's Kiyone?"

The man waved nervously underneath a desk piled with paperwork where Kiyone had apparently melted. On closer inspection I could hear her muttering under her breath – "He's going home today. He's going home today. Rukia can do the paperwork, he's going home today…"

I giggled, blew a kiss at the lower seat and made my way over to where Ukitake usually set up the senkaimon. Hell, but I could have found it with my eyes closed. As usually, half of the Seireitei had found an excuse to come and see him off.

"Oh, to be adored," I murmured.

Somewhere in the mass of shinigami I could here Shunsui's booming voice insisting that he take over from 'his precious Jyū-chan, who looks about to drop'. I winced. I'd heard about Shunsui's efforts with senkaimon before. Needless to say, if Ukitake _did_ collapse, it'd probably be safer for Ichigo to stay here then to trust in the Captain of the Eight Division.

I shoved my way though the crowd boobs first, following the sound of Shunsui's pout (yes, it's audible in all it's horror). _I have the most awesome battering ram ever._ Luckily enough, I popped out right next to Rukia.

She smiled softly at me, but that old pain was back in her eyes.

I yawned. "He'll be back."

She snorted. "Of course. He knows I'll murder him if he doesn't return."

"Which would just bring him back here, pain-free," I pointed out. "You gotta think wider, Rukia-chan. Castration or something."

She cracked a grin and I cheered inwardly. "No. I rather like that part of him. Um…did you see him at all? I asked Orihime to see if she could find him."

"Yamamoto-sōtaichō held him up," I told her. She frowned. "And yeah, we bumped into Orihime. He's just having a quick chat with her and then he'll be here."

"Hmph. He'd better hurry, or else Kyōraku-taichō _will_ have to send him back."

I shuddered. "And we don't want that."

"Ran-chan! I am hurt! Hurt, shocked and ashamed! Ow! My precious Nanao-chan is so cruel to me!"

"Stop eavesdropping Kyōraku-taichō, it's in bad taste."

Rukia's smile became a tad happier and I winked at Shunsui who returned the gesture. That man really is too perceptive.

"Hey, Rukia-chan, would you mind having a word with me after this? I need your help with something."

She turned big violet eyes up to my in surprise. "Eh? Me? But wouldn't Momo or Nanao be better for something like—"

"Oh no, Rukia." I smirked, catching a swirling Captain's haori out of the corner of my eye. Well, well, well, guess who showed up? "No, this is most definitely something only you can help me with."

xXx

_Whoa! I actually got over 2000 words! I'm amazed at myself._

_Seriously, this was a really hard chapter to write, especially when I had to rewrite the damn thing. I mean, I can barely handle re_reading_ the things, let alone rewriting. But I really wanted to get this chapter out before I had to get back to hardcore studying, so I persevered which is why I'm currently staring cross eyed at the screen at 11.37pm._

_I'm and early to bed, early to rise sort of person. Usually I'm fast asleep at least an hour before now. Although I'll probably still wake up at seven tomorrow. Freaking ingrained instincts. I hate school. And yes, that ramble does make sense in an odd way._

_Thanks for reading, and please review!_


	11. Chapter 11

_Waah! 302! __**302!**_

_Bleach is consistently getting more and more awesome by the day. Or week, as it were (damn it all!) I've been surviving on Naruto while I wait for people to update, but it's not quite the same. There's just something about Bleach that's infinitely more sophisticated. Probably just because the characters are older. However I will concede that Naruto has moved me to tears more than once – how can it not? There's more tragic pasts there than Bleach, Harry Potter and Fruits basket put together. I like to pretend the Sasuke ordeal never happened. In fact, that's why I started ANOTHER fanfic…yes, I'm a bad person. I already had two chapter fics and then I had to go and start two more. So unfortunately that means The Stage updates will be less, but I'm on holiday now for the next eight weeks and I'm aiming for a chapter a day so despite the extra workload, you may end up getting more. We'll see how it goes. _

_Oh, and my exams were alright, and thanks so much to all of you who wished me luck, I really appreciated it._

_Chapter Eleven!_

xXx

I ignored the butterflies fluttering in my stomach and strode straight in Sixth Division as if it was my own.

So, yeah, it was more of stagger but no one saw who couldn't be gotten rid of later if necessary.

I was holding Byakuya's scarf rolled up in one hand so that it could have been any piece of…expensive white silk…ah well, I tried and he couldn't fault me for that.

"R-Rangiku-san?" Rikichi stuttered as I wandered into the office he shared with Byakuya.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted the Captain of the Sixth glance up for a brief second and then return his gaze firmly to his paperwork.

"Rikichi-kun," I whined, taking pleasure in finally, _finally_ being obnoxious again. "I _told_ you, it's Ran-chan!"

He blushed. So cute! Not vice-captain material, exactly, but he had to have done something to capture Byakuya's eye. Maybe it was just the tattoos.

"Anyway, Rikichi-kun, I have something to talk to Kuchiki-taichō about. Would you mind leaving us alone for a bit?"

The vice-captain turned to Byakuya, who waved his hand negligently. "Leave, fukutaichō."

"_So, what you are really saying is that you want to seduce my brother."_

"_Exactly!"_

"_And you want my help with this?"_

"_Well, you do know him best. Or, at least better than I do." I looked at the ceiling speculatively. "Any ideas?"_

_Rukia pulled a face. "I'd rather not think about this, but if you want to get anywhere, you have to irritate him."_

"_Eh?"_

"_Attack his pride, a little. But only if you're sure he won't kill you." She grimaced. "Flirt, even. Or get angry. Either will work."_

"_That's your plan? Be myself?" I stared. "I have that sort of personality, don't I?"_

"_Trust me. He won't know what hit him."_

_I thought about it. "Rukia, you're brilliant."_

"_I am?"_

"_Well, more inspiring. Your Plan's a good one, but I just came up with something better."_

Rikichi left as I sauntered over to Byakuya's desk. There was a perfectly good chair next to me, but I ignored it in favour of perching on said desk.

The man looked up at me and raised an eyebrow. "What was it you wished to speak of, Matsumoto-fukutaichō?"

Ouch.

"So cold," I bemoaned, brushing off his comment. I hadn't expected it to be easy, convincing the man that I wasn't about to go off and die somewhere. "Oh, you have another one!" I reached out and tapped the kenseikan in his here. "Pity that. Anyway, I came to return your scarf, Kuchiki-taichō. It appears you forgot it the other night."

He looked back at his paperwork again. "Keep it."

I'll admit it – there was a bit of a gasp on my part there. This was _The Scarf_. It had capitalisation!

At the last minute I managed to turn the gasp in a sort of sigh. "Oh," I remarked softly, shifting a bit on his desk. "I see how it is."

Damn, his head was like a ping-pong ball. Up, down, up, down, up.

"I'm afraid I do not quite understand what you are intimating, Matsumoto-fukutaichō."

I was beginning to understand his strategy. When forced to speak, he hid behind his words, weaving increasingly eloquent sentences. Did he swallow a dictionary or something?

"You're paying me," I said flatly. "For services rendered."

The look on his face was priceless. It was like the Ichigo equivalent of a full blown fit. Eyes wide, both eyebrows raised, mouth open slightly in surprise. It took all my will and some of my taichō's to suppress the sudden urge to giggle.

"I assure you," he said finally. "That was not the case at all."

"Really? It seems pretty much clear cut to me. You figured out what you want, took it, and left this—" I held up the scarf. "—to ensure no one else figured it out."

Hah. Let's see what you do with _that_, Captain Kuchiki. I watched, amused, as he rearranged his face into that dead-eyed mask he was so fond of.

"If I were intending to pay for…" A slight pull of the lips, a near grimace on his part. "…services rendered, as you put it, surely I would not have used a scarf that can immediately be linked to myself?"

I shrugged, bosom heaving. "Who am I to know the mind of the nobility? After all, I'm just a rough, uncouth, loud, exhibitionistic commoner."

"You will keep on throwing that in my face," he remarked.

"You say that as if _I've_ done something wrong, Kuchiki-taichō." I yawned. "Well, if you weren't treating me like whore, what was it?"

I saw his wince, well concealed though it was, at my use of the word whore. I'd done it on purpose, of course I had – I wanted to back the man into a corner, show him that I was in control of the situation.

After all, as Nanao and I had previously agreed, Kuchiki Byakuya was a man. And while I may not have understood the aristocracy, I did understand men. Intimately.

His head had yoyo-d back to his paperwork. "A token."

"Oh?" I leaned forward until my boobs were dangerously close to falling out, but that wasn't important. I wasn't aiming to seduce him here. "A token of what?"

Silence.

"You know what I think, Kuchiki-taichō?" I remarked conversationally. With so little space between us, I could tell the exact colour of his eyes – not deep holes of black, as they appeared from far away, but rather the darkest blue. "I think you did figure out what you want and you _didn't_ get it. And I think that you're too afraid to go after it because you'd rather never have it than to get it and lose it. I also think that I'm falling in love with you, but that's neither here nor there, especially not when I think that _you_ think there's too many differences between us for anything lasting to happen."

"Is that all you think, Matsumoto Rangiku?" he murmured.

"No, it's not. Thanks for asking. I think that what you want is _me_ and because you're a coward, I think we should be friends."

"Friends," he echoed.

I think I broke his brain

"Exactly." I leaned back, satisfied. "How many friends do you have, Kuchiki-taichō?"

More silence.

I replied as if he'd answered. "I thought as much. So, dinner tomorrow, say seven o'clock?" I winked at him hopping off the desk. "I'll come and drag you out of this office if you're not at my door by then, alright?"

And with that parting threat, I sauntered out of the room. I managed to last until I was outside the Sixth Division's compound before bursting into hopeless laughter.

I'd already caught him, now I just had to keep him. Friendship? Please.

_I give him three days. Three days of this platonic stuff before he's at my door again._

xXx

_It's a very short chapter. I know. I'm sorry. But it's a transition thing. If I keep writing all I'd be doing is waffling and I've found that's not very good for the story._

_I hope you enjoyed it despite the length, and as you all know, this is the part where I beg for reviews, despite how unworthy I am of them._


	12. Chapter 12

_Eh…Bleach isn't quite so exciting now that we've moved away from Byakuya. And whoa! Milestone! The Stage just reached double the chapters of Lost And Found! Yay! Celebration! –throws candy and confetti– I never expected this fic to reach chapter 8, let alone 12._

_On the other hand, I have to tell you that updates may be slowing down a bit as I get more into my Naruto fic Reset. I also have to write a Christmas present for a friend that is probably going to end up as 12000 words and that does, I'm afraid, take priority._

_I'm splitting this into two parts, and chapter twelve will eventually be assimilated into chapter eleven. It was nearing in on four thousand words, which is why I had to split it, and I didn't want the light heartedness of the first part detracting from what is the most important thing to happen in this story yet. More than the sex, even. _

xXx

I spent the rest of the day in the office at Tōshirō's insistence with the niggling thought that I'd forgotten something.

"Rangiku, go home," my Captain said finally.

I blinked. "Wha?"

"You don't want to be here and you're certainly not helping. That's the seventeenth form you've had to redo in the last hour.

I glanced at the waste paper basket and winced. I'd been there four hours. If seventeen was the average, that made sixty-eight. Oops.

"Sorry, taichō. I've just got – things on my mind."

The man raised an eyebrow. "You?"

I pouted, harnessing my inner Shunsui. "So cruel, taichō!"

He rolled his eyes. "Go and talk to Orihime-san or something."

"E-eh?" Oh. Oh no. I _knew_ I'd forgotten something!

Tōshirō did that thing with his eyebrows and the small smile that he hadn't done in _years_ – in other words, he 'was-amused-but-refused-to-show-it-therefore-slightly-altered-usual-scowl'. I _loved_ that look! "Give her my regards."

"Sure thing, taichō!" I called back, having already leapt from my seat and virtually flown to the door. He'd never admit it, but my not-so-little Captain has had a soft spot for Orihime ever since she let us stay in her house all those years ago. He nearly disobeyed orders back when she was taken by Aizen to go with Ichigo to Hueco Mundo, and he fought tooth and nail to be involved in the first attack wave that was 'coincidentally' sent in a week or so later.

By this stage I was halfway out of the compound with no idea as to where I was headed. Of course, having destroyed the Hōgyoku Orihime was welcome anywhere in the Seireitei or the Rukongai and she visited them all as often as she could, but there were very few places in which she actually _stayed._

So. Either the darling woman was with Rukia, somewhere in the Fourth Division or at Yachiru and Zaraki's grave. Of course, there was the off chance that she would be at my place in the general housing area, but it was coming up on ten o'clock and Orihime has always had an odd sense of poetry about her – ten o'clock on the dot, the exact time that Yachiru fell to Gin's zanpakutō.

Eleventh Division it was.

I was greeted with the sound of general warfare as soon as I stepped into the compound.

"Get out of the way, fucker!"

"It's my turn, bastard!"

"Now now boys, there's plenty of paper to go around. Don't use such ugly words around our Orihime-chan." I could here the smile in Yumichika's voice, the one that said 'listen to me or I'll kill you' without saying it.

"Ah, Watanabe-san, you have it!" Orihime's voice chirped itself around the compound.

_What on earth is going on here?_

"What the fuck is going on here!" In contrast to Orihime, Ikkaku's roar split the air. I winced, making my way towards the commotion. I came upon the scene just as Orihime stood from her chair in the middle of a hundred or so Eleventh Division shinigami.

"Ikkaku-kun! We're making paper cranes! Did you want to learn as well?"

I stared. Ikkaku joined me.

"Ikkaku, don't just stand there looking ugly!" Yumichika sang. "Come and learn how to do something useful! Did you know that if you make a thousand paper cranes, your wish will come true?"

I smiled, folding my arms and clearing my throat. Ikkaku looked over at me and paled. He knew I was just waiting to see how he could screw this one up.

The almighty Captain of the Eleventh Division hung his head. There _was_ no way out but capitulation – it takes a special sort of evil to ignore Yumichika's pout or Orihime's smile. No one has ever managed to outlast both. No, seriously. One of the Espada killed himself to escape.

"I'm going to tell everyone," I called.

"Yeah, yeah, I fucking know."

"Rangiku!" Orihime caught sit of me and jumped, waving. To save time, I unsheathed Haineko and slung her idly over my shoulder, grinning as some underling had to duck to avoid getting his head chopped off.

"Orihime-chan, you're falling out," I told her.

"Oh!" She fixed herself up, oblivious to the haunted eyes of a Eleventh Division who knew that the instant their eyes lingered to long, Haineko would grind their balls to dust.

Poor Ikkaku was looking so pathetically unmanly that I decided to save him. "Orihime-chan, it's nearly ten o'clock. Did you want to head off now?"

"Mm!" The woman nodded, smiling. "I just need to finish one more crane and then I have a thousand!" She held up a string and I was nearly blinded by the sheer _pinkness_ of the cranes attached to it. They were all different sizes and shades, but still remarkably pink.

I rammed my way through the crowd of idiots to my friend's side and examined the crane she was folding lightning-fast. "Salmon, isn't it?"

Yumichika sighed. "No, Ran-chan, that's _coral_. The salmon's over _here_." He picked up another section and pointed out the salmon coloured crane. I wasn't sure if I should be more afraid that he knew the difference between the two when I didn't, or that he'd appeared to have memorised the exact position of every shade on the string.

"Right, I'm finished!" Orihime announced. "Let's go, Rangiku!"

I smiled at her enthusiasm and grabbed her hand. It usually wasn't possible to drag another person along when you flash-stepped unless you were carrying them, but if there ever was an anomaly, Orihime was it. Apparently she'd once scaled the side of a three story building way back in the invasion days and nobody ever figured out how she managed it.

Kurotsuchi would bow down to Ishida Uryū himself if it meant getting his hands on our Orihime. Thankfully, Ishida was extremely possessive – now that he had her, there would be no letting go of her.

I had a nice time, watching Orihime have fun. She draped the cranes around Zaraki and Yachiru's combined headstone and then sat and chattered to it about this and that until she was swaying where she sat and had to force her eyes open every few seconds.

"Time to go, Orihime," I said softly when she finally slid sideways with a soft thump.

"But—" A yawn cut off her protest.

"Come on. You're in luck, my house is actually relatively clean." Unlike me, Orihime loved that house. If it wasn't clean now, it would be by tomorrow, despite how loudly I protested. The woman could just not stop herself from doing nice things for people.

It drove Ishida insane, because there were many, many people out there who were more than willing to have Orihime do nice things for them.

xXx

_Right! Onwards to chapter 13! You don't have to review this if you don't want to. I mean, I'd like you to, but it was originally part of the same chapter. It's all good._


	13. Chapter 13

_It starts off nice, but just wait till you get to the meat of it. This was very, very hard for me to write._

xXx

My Captain stared at me as I sailed into the office on time, a basket in one hand and Orihime in the other.

"Y-you—"

"Sorry taichō, not today," I sang, depositing Orihime into my chair and wrapping my vice-captain's badge around her head. She blinked up at me. "Here's my replacement. Do some catching up and for the love of all things unholy, don't make her do paperwork. I'm taking the day off."

Tōshirō rolled his eyes. "When _don't_ you take the day off, Rangiku?" he muttered under his breath.

I clapped my hands together. "Tōshirō-_taichō!_" I squealed, glomping him. "You've gotten so _mature!_"

"_RANGIKU!_" Funny how he hadn't even noticed my slipping in his first name.

Orihime giggled from underneath her vice-captain's badge as I high-tailed it out of there, scarf trailing belatedly behind me. The thought crossed my head that I would have looked _so much cooler_ had I kept and worn Byakuya's scarf, but Rukongai pink cotton would do for now.

Two days now. I was being kind and giving him from our meeting the day before instead of the upcoming non-date. After all, it wouldn't do for Kuchiki Byakuya to be bought down on Day One now, would it?

I was under no illusions that he would show up at my room. There was no way, and I knew it. But I knew that he knew I knew it, and he knew that I knew that he knew I knew it, which meant he would most definitely expect _me_ to show up on _his _doorstep no sooner than seven-twenty and no later than seven-forty.

Which was exactly why I was resisting the urge to swing my basket, which just so happened to be filled with food. After all, if Byakuya was _expecting_ me to show up it only made sense for me not to, just to throw him. Unfortunately this would also throw me or more specifically my Plan, so I compromised and showed up at half past nine in the morning with brunch instead.

"Byakuya-taichō!" I trilled, swinging into his office. I'd slipped a Sixth Division underling today's pay (about a week's worth for him) to create some sort of diversion that would get Rikichi out of the way.

I enjoyed myself by watching the realisation dawn on his face (a twitch! I got a twitch) as he paused in his paperwork. Then I dropped the picnic basket on said paperwork followed by myself.

"What is it that you want, Matsumoto-fukutaichō?" he said, voice carefully devoid of emotion.

Hah! I knew it! He'd played the rank card, which allowed me to pout at him. "It's _Rangiku_, Byakuya-taichō. We're friends now, don't you remember?"

"What is it that you want, Rangiku-fukutaichō?"

Success!

"Well, it turns out what with Orihime-chan being here and all I can't actually do seven o'clock tonight." Blatant lie. "So I thought that instead of skipping it all together, we could have brunch!" Insert wide grin here.

"Brunch."

"Sure! It's like, breakfast and lunch, together!"

"I know what brunch is."

I restrained myself from rolling my eyes.

"Unfortunately, I am busy."

Unfortunately my arse. Any more gleeful, Mr. Kuchiki, and there'd be an actual expression on your face.

"Well, if you're really _that_ busy, I guess we'll just have to stay here. Look, I brought strawberries!" I flipped open the lid to the basket and hauled out a tub of strawberries from the mass of food.

"You brought strawberries."

Score two! How many times can a person have his brain broken before it's irreparable, I wonder?

"Yep! And some figs, and I also packed some bread so we can make our own sandwiches."

"With figs and strawberries."

Brain definitely broken. "No! Rukia mentioned once that you liked avocadoes." True, actually. "So I have those, and there's some ham and other sandwich meats, or some honey if you'd rather not go savoury. I also have some delicious almond carrot cake and, of course…" I dug deep into the never-ending picnic-basket and found the thermos. "Coffee!"

Bar the sandwich meats and bread, every food I'd packed was an aphrodisiac and he knew it. But this time, while he may have _suspected_, Byakuya did not know for sure that I knew. And I was giving off a brilliant platonic air. Yes, I was sitting on his desk, but I sat on everyone's desk. Sure my boobs were about to fall out, but they're always about to fall out. In other words, I was acting the same as I always did.

I wasn't looking at Byakuya when it happened, but I felt the sudden shift in the air and turned to look at him directly after.

His entire face had shut down, and it wasn't like the times he'd done it to me before. No, this mask didn't even have the dead eyes – they were just empty. Totally devoid of anything.

It hurt. It hurt a lot, surprisingly a lot and I definitely wasn't expecting it. But my strategy would still work, it was the tactics that needed changing.

A girl doesn't get to be a vice-captain of the Thirteen Protection Divisions without working her arse off three times over. Contrary to once-popular belief (Rukia had actually taken a leaf from _my_ book when she'd bet the crap out of all those bastards who doubted her), it's a position a person can't sex or bribe their way to (blackmail works on the odd occasion, but not for very long). So I can state the difference between strategy and tactics backwards in my sleep.

Strategy is long term planning. To be honest, it's pure _prediction_ and you can plan as much as you want but any soldier know that as soon as you get out on that battlefield everything goes to hell.

That's where tactics come in. Tactics mean adaptability. They mean analysing the situation in an instant and being able to _change_ the strategy to fit the new conditions. The goal is still the same, but the method has changed.

And I may have been a half-assed strategist (I had to go to _Rukia,_ the second least subtle person in three worlds to get inspiration for my plan) but I was a damned good tactician and there was no way I was going to lose this fight. Not with the stakes so high.

"I am not going to have brunch with you, Matsumoto-fukutaichō," he said blandly. "I suggest you take your leave."

Time to go on the all out offensive.

"Fine," I clipped out. "You know what? I'm sorry. I'm sorry for trying to be a good friend. I'm sorry for trying to drag you away from your _never ending _paperwork. I'm sorry for not wanting to watch _another _person stagnate in their guilt and loneliness."

That look does strange things to people. I may or may not have lost my cool, but it was getting me where I needed to go.

"Get up," I snapped.

"Excuse me?"

"I said get _up_. We're going outside."

The look slipped. Surprise on his face. The ball was back in my court. "I am not having brunch with you."

"I don't _want_ to have brunch with you. I want to drag you out to the training grounds and beat some sense into you like any good friend would." Hook.

He stared at me, face as close to shock as it would ever get. "You want…to spar."

"Sparring involves the opponent fighting back, Byakuya-taichō." Just slip in a reminder of the 'friends' thing again. Throw him off balance even more. "I was just planning on thrashing you. Without your help." Line.

"Your are just a fukutaichō."

I locked eyes with him.

"So was Renji."

Sinker.

He made up his mind then, but his pride made him wait it out a bit.

"Very well."

Time to reel this sucker in.

xXx

Byakuya cleared the training grounds of all possible observers before we even walked onto them.

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Scared I'm going to embarrass you?"

No response. That was alright, I hadn't really expected one.

We marked out an area and drew zanpakutō. Haineko growled happily to me at the thought of real exercise – in the years since I had first started striving for bankai, her inherent nature had changed from lazy to near blood thirsty. She'd never been selfish in the first place, but that had been my mistake.

"Zanjutsu only," Byakuya said softly, so softly I almost missed it. "No shikai."

"No bankai," I countered.

A tiny smirk. "I thought that obvious, seeing as you have not yet attained—"

"How do you know?" I interrupted. I hadn't, but I'd been close, so close, four years ago before Karin's death. I didn't give him time to react. "Fine. Just zanjutsu. That means no kidō or shunpo either."

He nodded his acquiescence and without further warning I launched myself at him.

When faced with an opponent like Byakuya, there's no point in trying to sneak up from behind with a surprise attack. I'm fast; very fast. But so is he.

I went with an overhead strike and the way he dodged it instead of wrenching his arm to parry it gave me a serious case of déjà vu.

And then it hit me.

He knew my form.

He'd been watching me _fight_. And since I'd only had one serious sparring match ever since the whole mess started, that meant he _had _been there when Momo nearly chopped pieces from me.

_Stroke, slash, slash, feint, slash, parry, riposte, feint. I pushed her back, getting into the swing of things. She winced as I pulled a manoeuvre that forced her to block high, tugging on the scar that curled over her heart and around her side._

That's what he was expecting.

I switched to defence, parrying instead of feinting, blocking instead of riposting.

He stumbled.

"You've been watching me," I whispered

Low guard. The twitch in his hand said he was going to come at me from below.

"Following me."

I had to parry the next thrust but refused to riposte. I was fighting this battle with words.

"_Stalking me_." This was said so quietly as to be almost inaudible, but he heard it. I knew, having to switch to high guard to block the overhead stroke that Kuchiki Byakuya had never, ever used.

_Now _we were getting somewhere.

And then with a sudden flash of insight, I changed to offence again.

Slash, stroke, stroke, parry, riposte.

"Then again, maybe you didn't mean it."

Sparks were flying now. Haineko hissed in pleasure.

"Maybe I wasn't really that important."

Mid cut low cut high cut.

"Maybe…it was just a joke."

I don't know what broke, but I don't think it was his brain.

He came at me with the overhead stroke again, and boy, if the eyes are the windows to the soul, his curtains may have been shut but the house was on _fire_. I was forced to use every evasive manoeuvre I'd ever learnt, eventually falling back on cheap street tricks I'd learnt whilst living with Gin.

I could see the frustration on his face. Actually _see_ it, not have to guess at it from lips twitches and eye twitches and hand twitches. Frustration, mingling with something else and _fear_ at what that something else might be.

I fought off with everything I had, switching between offensive and defensive whenever I could, _pushing_ him. We both knew it was coming, it was just a matter of when I would find the trigger.

In the end, it was Gin's signature move that did it. I tangled myself up in my own scarf and when the fire faltered in Byakuya's eyes, I ripped through Rukongai pink cotton and aimed straight for his stomach.

It missed. I knew it would. But that wasn't the point.

The point was what came next.

"Senbonzakura Kageyoshi. Bankai."

And everything stopped.

We stood there, staring at each other, the both of us panting, me with a scrap of pink cloth tangling around Haineko and him with hundreds of millions of tiny, deadly blades at his back like a giant pink tsunami.

I dropped my blade.

"I forfeit."

His bankai dissipated.

A small smile crossed my lips.

_I win._

xXx

I was in my barracks room and I was waiting.

Sitting on my bed, twining the remnants of a Rukongai pink scarf around my hands.

Waiting.

It was only a matter of time. I knew it.

He knew it.

So I was waiting.

He'd try to talk himself out of it, but it was useless. He'd lost control in front of me, surrendered it _to_ me and now all that remained was the obvious.

It wasn't romantic in the least.

I didn't care.

And then the door opened, like last time, except it wasn't so large now and it was him who came to me, him who kissed me, not the other way around.

It was hard and fast and ruthless and I hated every moment.

_This is not the way I wanted it._

I pulled away. "No."

For my efforts I received a look of shock and a face so full of pain it made me physically hurt to see it. "No?" he echoed. "Isn't this what you wanted, _Rangiku_."

And my name, _my name, _full of such self-loathing that it made me ill to think about it.

"No," I whispered, reaching up a hand to stroke his cheek. He flinched away, that naked look of pain, of _vulnerability_ still achingly present. "It's not, Byakuya. Not like this."

I was cruel. There was something in my chest that I'd never felt before and it was tearing me up inside.

And then came The Insight. I'd had plenty over the last few days, but this was the biggy.

"Byakuya," I said softly, drawing him forward and kissing his lips, a touch as light as butterfly wings. "I'm sorry."

He started.

"I love you."

And this time when he kissed me, it was done _right_.

xXx

_I'm drained. Totally, utterly, completely drained. This thing put me through the emotional wringer and by god, I hope I did a good job of it. This is quite possibly bigger than losing my het-sex-scene virginity. I need feedback. Anything. Concrit is more than welcome, it's encouraged._


	14. Chapter 14

_It's sort of dawning on me that I'm writing adults here, and it's a scary thought. I mean, I know Bleach is geared up for teenagers, but still. Rangiku and Byakuya are most definitely adults, and I'm wondering how well I'm doing at conveying that._

_Lol! Latest chapter of Bleach, people, featuring a young Tōshirō and our very own Matsumoto Rangiku! Kya! She was so cute with short hair!_

_I'msorryI'msorryI'msorry! Please don't hurt me, or Byakuya, for the assholery that's coming up. Seriously. He's emotionally retarded! He doesn't understand what he's _doing

xXx

The first time he did it, I thought he was joking.

I was whistling my way towards the office at ten o'clock in the morning, threading through various shinigami when I literally bumped into him. From the direction he was headed, it appeared he was going to Thirteenth.

I grinned up at him, but the smile faltered when I saw he was looking determinately ahead, as if I was…

Well, as if I was any other person who'd bumped into him.

"Matsumoto-fukutaichō," he murmured.

I stared, smile frozen on my face. For a moment, I swear it seemed as if ever other person in the area had dropped away. I waited for him to kiss me, hug me, _look at me_.

Nothing.

I could have called him on it. I could have made an issue of it.

But I didn't.

Grin slipping off my face, I licked my lips slightly and nodded, eyes downcast. "Kuchiki-taichō."

We separated.

Is it just me, or should my heart have been splattered somewhere on the ground?

xXx

My Captain knew something was wrong the moment I entered the office and started doing paperwork without complaint, but it was fairly obvious he had no idea what to do about it. He sort of hovered around me, standing up, wandering over, doing something inconsequential and sitting back down again. By lunch time he'd brought me six cups of tea and I really couldn't take it any more.

"Taichō," I said softly, signing my name at the bottom of a 513 and tossing the 513B. "I don't need any more tea."

The fusuma slammed open and Rukia strode into the office. She stood in front of me, wide-eyed.

"What did you _do_ to him?" she whispered. It wasn't an accusation, but I was uncomfortably reminded of the look on Byakuya's face the night before.

Tōshirō raised an eyebrow. "Hello, Kuchiki-fukutaichō."

My friend flushed slightly, looking guilty. "Uh…I'm sorry, Hitsugaya-taichō, I should have—"

He waved his hand negligently, taking a sip of the tea in his hands. "Perhaps knock next time," he said simply, returning to his seat.

Rukia blinked, then took a careful look at me and my surroundings – namely the pile of completed paperwork next to me – and frowned. "What…did he do to _you_."

I remained silent, aware Tōshirō was listening intently.

"Well _something_ happened between the two of you," she huffed.

Looking down, I stared unseeingly at the paper, able to _feel_ Rukia's glare.

"He called me Matsumoto-fukutaichō," I said finally.

"So? He always – oh, no."

"Oh, yes."

"You had _sex_ with him again!"

My head jerked up, hearing Tōshirō choke on his tea. Rukia twitched, realising exactly what she'd yelled out.

"It doesn't matter, Rukia," I said softly. "He's made it obvious that he doesn't care."

Rukia pursed her lips and then pulled out a chair, sitting down. "Seeing him this morning, Rangiku, I'd say he most definitely does care."

Frowning, I shook my head. "He ignored me. Treated me like any other plebeian who could have walked into him."

"He's protecting you," she said simply.

I stared, then started to laugh. Loudly. "From what? As he so easily pointed out, I _am_ a fukutaichō. What could I possibly need protecting from?"

Rukia looked grim. "The family."

I stopped laughing.

My friend gave me a sympathetic look. "Yeah, that's what I thought."

xXx

The really irritating thing was that _nothing_ had changed in his behaviour towards me. To those who knew nothing about the situation, it looked like the same relationship Byakuya had with every fukutaichō bar his own and Rukia – nonexistent

The main problem (other than being horribly dumped by the man I loved) was that I had no idea where I stood. I didn't like that feeling at all, especially as I'd never really felt it before, not when a man was involved. Even with a one night stand – it was always perfectly clear that was exactly what it was.

But now…

Well.

I lasted three days.

xXx

I didn't storm into his office, I walked.

I didn't sit on his desk, I pulled out a chair.

I didn't make any comments. I simply sat down.

Rikichi kept on glancing nervously up at us from his paperwork at the two of us. I sat demurely enough, one leg over the other with my hands folded on my knees.

"I don't know what to say," I said finally.

Byakuya flicked over to the next sheet of paper. "So I had gathered.

"I thought I said everything that needed to be said," I continued.

Negligently, Byakuya waved his hand. "Rikichi. Leave."

"Y-yes, taichō."

Hearing Rikichi stutter like that made the anger I'd been suppressing flare white hot in my gut. "How can you treat him like that?" I demanded. "He's afraid of you!"

"A great many people are."

"He's your _fukutaichō!_"

He set the brush down too hard and finally, _finally _looked at me.

There it was. It was faint, but there was a glimmer of something behind his eyes.

"What was it you wished to speak of, Matsumoto-fukutaichō? I've a feeling it was not Yamashita Rikichi."

"Oh, so you do feel then?" I shot back.

"What was it you wished to speak of, Matsumoto-fukutaicho?" Byakuya repeated, ignoring me.

I stood, shaking my head. "It doesn't matter." A bitter smile. "Isn't that the way it's meant to go, Kuchiki-taicho? Your first love is always supposed to be the worst. These things aren't made to last."

I half expected him to follow.

He didn't

xXx

I wanted to cry, but I wouldn't let myself. I wouldn't let myself fall so far.

_I'm happy, chirpy Rangiku Matsumoto. So I need to surround myself with happy, chirpy people._

"Rangiku!" Orihime bounced into view.

I burst into tears.

_Well. That worked fantastically._

"R-Rangiku?" She ran forward and the next thing I knew, an old, old favour was being returned.

Orihime wrapped her arms around me and pulled her tightly to her chest. She didn't ask what was wrong, didn't tell me it would all be okay, she just stood there with me in the middle of the street, holding me. Letting me cry.

"Inoue Orihime."

I stilled in my friend's arms.

"Kuchiki-taichō?" The confusion in Orihime's voice was obvious.

"Go away," I mumbled from between my friend's boobs. "You've made your point. I don't care anymore."

"Do you not."

"Until you care that I do, no. I really don't." I pulled away from Orihime, feeling a bit childish and entirely unlike myself for hiding. Then again, this entire situation was entirely unlike myself. I was losing Matsumoto Rangiku and I didn't know where she was going. "I don't want to change for you, Byakuya, especially when you don't even want me. No, you want me, you just don't love me. Or something. See? I really don't care."

Poor Orihime, standing there between me and Kuchiki Byakuya with no idea as to what was happening.

"We…need to talk."

"So talk."

"Alone."

"Is Orihime-chan frightening you, Kuchiki-taichō?" I switched to his title.

"Oh, no! I suddenly just remembered that my mushroom chocolate cookies are still in the oven!" the woman exclaimed, before disappearing.

I blinked.

"Well then. It seems you got your way." I flopped against a nearby wall and crossed my arms. "So tell me then. What possible excuse could you have?"

"You act as if I am the only one at fault here."

I stared at him. "Is that what this is? Revenge? I hurt you, so you do it back? Ignore me, act like I mean nothing to you? Or _do_ I mean nothing to you?"

For an instant, surprise flickered across his face.

"You were hurt," he said blandly.

"_Yes!_ Of course I bloody well was! Byakuya, I told you I loved you, we had _sex_ and then you ignored me! Rukia says you were torn up about it, that you're protecting me or _whatever_ but I really don't want to care."

"You said you didn't."

"I lied." I shook my head angrily. "Look, just – I'm sick of talking to you. I'm not going to try to convince you to love me or anything, because that's not me and I don't intend on losing anymore of myself just because I love you."

We stared at each other for a long time until finally I sighed, pushing myself off the wall and walking away.

"Whatever."

"I'm sorry."

Freeze. Turn around. Stare at him for the umpteenth time.

"You – you're—"

"I…am not good with feelings. I never have been."

Well that was the understatement of the century.

"To admit that you frighten me, Matsumoto Rangiku is more difficult than words can convey."

I frowned. "I don't want to frighten you, Byakuya."

"And yet."

There wasn't much I could say to that.

"But the same things that frighten me are the same things that attract me." He paused. "Rangiku. My family will hate you."

"I don't care."

"I do. I won't have another person go through what Hisana and Rukia did."

"I'm a big girl, Byakuya. I'd have to care what your family thinks to 'go through' anything and I don't."

His jaw tightened, and I figured it out.

"But you do."

You know, sometimes (wait, no, all the time) I wish I could just know these things instinctively. Revelations are neat, but after the first eight or so they start to get really irritating.

I pouted slightly, thinking. "Right then. You're taking me out for dinner tomorrow. And not as friends."

Bewildered silence. When there was nothing serious at stake, I did so love doing that to him.

"And no, I'm not just ignoring everything you just told me. From what I remember of the paperwork I did about two months ago, you were looking at having a few meetings to compare training and tactics with my Division, right? So drag a few papers along and your family thinks you've fallen victim to the dreaded Matsumoto Enthusiasm. Problem solved."

More silence. This was brilliant.

"Pick me up tomorrow at seven. I mean it this time." And I did, the serious undertone in my voice emphasizing that. "I want to give this a shot, Byakuya. You can't be too frightened to do the same."

He sighed. "I should never have said that."

"It's okay, most men are afraid of me for one reason or another." I smiled at him before turning to leave. "I'll see you tomorrow, then."

A soft, barely perceptible nod. I started walking.

"Rangiku."

I stopped, but didn't face him again.

"How is it…that you were so angry before. And now you are not."

I smiled wider, even though he couldn't see it. "You apologised, Byakuya, and you meant it."

"That is all?"

"That's all."

If he hadn't been so incredibly refined, I'm almost certain there would have been a thoughtful 'huh' around about then."

xXx

_I am under no illusions. This chapter is Not Good, but before you berate me please keep in mind that I am still pathetically recovering from the last chapter, and in the last two weeks I have written 20,000 words. Considering that during the school year I usually only write 8,000 to 10,000 words a month, I'd say that I'm (clinically insane) enitled to one mediocre chapter._

_Lol. Of course, it could all be in my head. Who knows?_

_The radio just told me that a road was shut down for the removal of an unstable tree and I just had this sudden image of a Christmas tree standing in the middle of the road with a gun to its head (I know trees don't have heads) screaming, "Don't come any closer! I'll do it, I'll shoot!"_

_I…have one whacked out imagination. But at least it's coming back to me!_


	15. Chapter 15

_Heya, I hope you all had/are having a great holiday! Mine's been pretty damn awesome. I'M BACK HOME! I MISSED IT SO MUCH!_

_**Part of this chapter is in the third person. Also, present tense. **_

_This is to accommodate my lack of skill in writing Byakuya and also to differentiate between his POV and Ran's. So, Byakuya is in third and Ran is in first as always. I'm whoring myself out again, but please review? I've never done Byakuya's POV before, third person or first and it's a scary thought. _

_**Now, if there's anything that looks of out place, **__tell me because when I was writing this chapter I didn't have internet and so couldn't check if what I was doing was right. I put what I thought in brackets and I think I fixed all of them but if you see one let me know. K?_

_So! Chapter fifteen and who thought we'd get this far? I certainly didn't._

xXx

"So, how are things going, Ran?" Ikkaku nudged me with a wink.

I nearly spilled my sake down my chest. "Eh?"

"Well, your taichō ain't being a loser no more and you ain't been at the Friday Night Drinking Group lately. Well, 'cept for tonight. So me'n Iba—" He pointed, as if I'd maybe forgotten who Iba was. "We figure you've gone and got yourself a new piece of ass."

"Ikkaku! Don't be so vulgar, you're ugly enough as it is," Yumichika chirped. He turned to me. "Although it's good to know you got yourself out of The Stage, Ran-chan." The other vice-captain shuddered delicately. "Awful. Simply awful."

I smirked around my bottle of sake. "I told you lot I wasn't going through The Stage."

Rukia started to laugh next to Renji's sake.

"So? Who is it, Rangiku?" Kiyone jibed.

"Heeey!" I leapt up, boobs bouncing as Tōshirō entered the dingy bar. "It's my kawaii little taichō!" I squealed.

He did the eyebrow twitch thing and while it wasn't quite as cute as when he was five foot tall it was still pretty damn adorable.

"Kuchiki Byakuya requests your presence, Rangiku," he drawled. "Or so Yamashita tells me. Apparently there's some trouble with the new recruits and the training schedule Sixth implemented."

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Kiyone lean over and whisper something to Rukia who blanched, causing the other girls to laugh uproariously.

"Taichō!" I moaned. "So cruel! You see this? He makes me work on a Friday night!"

Ikkaku frowned a bit. "Oi, brat you know that really ain't on."

"Ikkaku!" Yumichika hit him upside the head. "Don't be so rude!"

"Ikkaku!" _I _hit him upside the head. "It's _Hitsugaya-taichō_, not brat." I turned to my Captain. "Eh, Tōshirō?"

I'd never called him by just his first name before, but we were off duty and I was in the mood to spread a few rumours.

I kissed him on the cheek and sailed out of the bar. Just as I reached the door, I saw Iba frown at Ikkaku before pointed at my Captain.

"Him?"

"_RANGIKU!_"

I laughed to myself, making my way back to the Seireitei and Sixth Division.

"You wished to see me, Kuchiki-taichō?" I lilted, sticking my head around the door to his office.

"Rangiku."

"Gah!" I jumped, nearly falling out of my kimono before whipping around to face the man himself. I placed a hand over my heart and sighed, flopping against the wall. "Don't _do_ that, Byakuya. You frightened the life out of me."

"We cannot have that," he said softly.

I grinned up at him, before popping up and dropping a kiss on the corner of his mouth. He caught me before I resettled myself on the ground and pulled me flush to his body for another kiss.

"No," I whispered against his lips. "We cannot have that."

xXx

Months later and one could often find Kuchiki Byakuya in my bed. We talked often of course, about various things on and on, but while the conversation was brilliant (stilted as he could be), sex was still a large part of our relationship, for which I was extremely thankful. After all, I like sex, sex with Kuchiki Byakuya especially and generally it led to the best talks, curled up together on my tiny single bed.

"You know what I think?" It had become a sort of inside joke between the two of us.

He quirked a lip at me in what was as close to a smile as he ever got. I reached out and twirled a lock of midnight black hair around my finger.

"You're an arse man."

He choked.

My finger stilled and I gaped at him. "Did you just—"

"No."

"You did!"

"I did not."

I started to laugh at him and didn't stop until he rolled on top of me and silenced me with his mouth.

All in all, I thought it was a rather pleasant way of being told to shut up.

xXx

Spring, and her birthday with it.

Every year without fail the Eighth Division has thrown Matsumoto Rangiku a party, the most drunken, raucous debacle in the entire Seireitei and Kuchiki Byakuya has never attended.

Until this year.

"You are."

"I am not."

Rukia is badgering him to make an appearance. "Byakuya-nii-sama, you _are_. She deserves at least this much from you. You're lucky she's so patient, you know. _I_ certainly wouldn't put up with all this sneaking around and excuses."

There are many words to describe Matsumoto Rangiku, but Byakuya can't imagine patient being one of them.

"I have never gone be—"

Rukia stands in front of him, hands on hips. "She won't show it, Nii-sama, but if you don't go, she's going to be hurt."

This is how Byakuya ended up in the Eighth Division compound, surrounded by drunken shinigami and what seems like acres of lilacs. He holds one himself in his hand – a lilac, not a drunk.

He blinks once down at the flower in his hand.

"It's customary," Rukia supplies. Long exposure to him has taught her how to read his face. "One of Kyōraku-taichō's ideas that his Division went overboard with. This particular bred of lilac only blooms for a few weeks during spring. It's special, like Rangiku." She hands her lilac to a member of the Eighth who grins at her and threads it onto a string that already holds many of the flowers. His sister looks expectantly up at him before rolling her eyes and snatching the lilac from him. It is threaded onto the string as well before the other shinigami's eyes light up and he grins wider.

"That's this string done!" he announces, expertly tying the ends together with a flick of his fingers. "Here you go Kuchiki-taichō."

Byakuya turns impassively to his sister for help, the circle of flowers dangling from a wrist.

She's smirking up at him. He never should have let her fall in love with Ichigo, it's made her far too—

_Human?_ says the part of his brain that is sounded more and more like Rangiku every day. He allows himself a small quirk of the lips as Rukia explains that the last person to donate a flower to a string has to place it around the lady of honour's neck. If he'd been less composed, he would have sighed. "Very well."

There is a peel of laughter that Byakuya recognises instantly. He turns, slowly and is met with the sight of Matsumoto Rangiku herself, flanked by Hinamori Momo and Ise Nanao, bending down to accommodate the third seat of Fourth Division as he stutters his way around stringing the flowers about her neck. Her cheeks are flushed, but he thinks that is more from excitement than the sake bottle swinging loosely from her hand, although her companions appear to be fairly intoxicated. She is covered in lilacs, with necklaces and bracelets and a few that have slipped down around her waist.

She is beautiful, head thrown back in delight as Kyōraku, who has his arm slung around his vice-captain, makes some comment or another.

He makes his way over to her, watching as she suddenly breaks off an animated conversation with Hinamori to turn his way. A small smile lingers about her lips as she notices the wreath of flowers in his hands.

"Matsumoto-fukutaichō," he murmurs.

He hates the way the light in her eyes falters a bit when he uses her title, but she tries valiantly to cover it up.

"What's this, Kuchiki-taichō?" her rich voice teases. "You've actually deigned to visit me this year! See here, Nanao-chan, Momo, it's Kuchiki-taichō."

"Courtesy of my sister," he replies smoothly, holding up the string of lilacs. "I believe this is yours."

"Is that so?" She pouts up at him. "Well then. You'd better give it to me."

He bends forward slightly to lower it over her head, fingers itching to move her heavy wealth of hair out of the way as his lips curve slightly into a smile only she can see, hidden as it is by his hair.

"Happy birthday, Rangiku," is his soft whisper, so soft that only she and her two companions hear it, and they are intoxicated enough that come morning, they will forget it.

Her smile as he strides away is worth the drunken Captain of the Eleventh Division vomiting on his haori.

xXx

Another year, another birthday and Tenth Division rosters on once again for patrol in the physical world. Rangiku is stationed in Karakura town and when Kurosaki goes out of town on a business trip, it's Byakuya who is called in to replace him. He arrives as hundreds of Hollows take advantage of Ichigo's absence to feed on the most spiritually active place in the world. They are all relatively weak, but there is strength in numbers and Byakuya feels the first spike of fear in his heart since the war, where Rukia nearly breathed her last.

"Took your bloody time!" she yells over the roars. "I've been fending these things off for three days!"

"We had assumed that—"

The next thing he knows there's a Matsumoto Rangiku hanging off him and he's not entirely sure how she got there.

"We nearly lost Orihime," she whispers. "They're weak fuckers but there's just so _many_ of them. Ishida killed the ones attacking her before they could do any serious damage, but it was a near thing. And I'm out of juice. I can't keep this up much longer."

One of the first rules of battle is to not play out emotional scenes on the field. Well, it's not a rule, but it _is_ common sense.

"Senbonzakura Kageyoshi. Bankai."

At this moment, Byakuya can not find it in himself to care.

"I was allowed to come here with my limit released. You should receive approval any moment now."

She sags further against him in relief and tentatively his arms reach up and hug her to him. Even after two years he finds it difficult, but Senbonzakura swirling around them hides the two from view even as she kills.

"Matsumoto-fukutaichō, come in. Matsumoto-fukutaichō, are you there?"

Instantly, she is all business. He frowns, watching her respond. He's not been on a battlefield with her for years and last time he certainly hadn't been paying close attention.

He never knew how much of a soldier she is. Hisana was not a fighter. While he had always worried for her mental state, he had not worried about her life until the very end.

Byakuya realises now that he was very, very lucky.

As per orders he recalls his zanpakutō and starts killing Hollows, half-listening to Rangiku as her limit releases and she bark orders at the Tenth Division team that has just arrive. He catches a glimpse of her, hair flying, directing her shikai to shred the invading Hollows to dust and while the fear is still there, so is pride.

For a moment he forgets everything he is and has to be and wants to take her home with him.

xXx

_Zanpakutō clashed._

"_And all you had to say was _sorry?_ Why, Gin? Why did you do it?"_

_The smile which before had been ever-present had long since dropped off his face. "Ya wouldn' understand, Ran."_

"_We were closer than lovers, Gin! Didn't we swear it? Didn't we swear that we'd always look out for each other?"_

"_I never broke that promise, Ran. Now if ya would jus' lemme get by to kill that woman, I won' have to."_

"_I knew your loyalties didn't lie with the Seireitei. I knew you hated the shinigami. I knew you were afraid of dying, but I didn't—"_

"_Shut ya mouth."_

_I stared. "You don't believe in this cause, do you Gin?" I whispered._

"_Shut. Yer. Mouth."_

_I could feel the anger, _rage_, boiling in my veins, about to burst out. The single most important thing on a battlefield is to keep your cool, but I'd forgotten all of that. All I knew was the bitter taste of his betrayal. "You turned _traitor_ for something you didn't even believe in! For ideals that you can't even kill me for! _Coward!_"_

"_No."_

"_Oh yeah? Prove it then." I dropped Haineko and held my arms out wide. "Kill me, Gin."_

I was methodically tearing up the office when Byakuya strode in with some paper or another in his hand, Rikichi at his tail.

"R-Rangiku-san?" Rikichi stuttered. "Are you alright?"

"Get out." I said it very calmly and very politely with the deadliest of intents behind it. Three years in a secret relationship with the head of the Kuchiki clan teaches you some control.

It was by no means the first memory I'd relived in recent weeks, but it was by far the worst.

"Just you, Rikichi," I continued. "I've a few things to say to _Kuchiki-taichō_ here."

So, according to Nanao who appears to have attained a degree in psychology somewhere, memories start bringing themselves up just to _torture me further _whenever something frustrating or irritating or downright _horrible_ happens.

A member of Byakuya's family was poisoned three months ago. To be honest, the world could use a few less Kuchiki's, but it seems that the culprit misjudged.

He was after Rukia.

She will always come first. I know that. I wouldn't be with him if he were that despicable as to have her as anything else. I had expected him to fuss about her and worry and stress for few months and true to form, he had.

What I hadn't expected was for him to allow his family to start controlling ever aspect of _his_ life.

Including marriage prospects. Needless to say, I'm not on the list.

Not that I want to marry him, the bastard.

"Matsumoto-fukutaichō."

Oh, that was _it_. I couldn't care anymore. I did, but I couldn't afford to. Two quick steps forward and I punched him in the mouth.

xXx

"_Kuchiki-taichō. A word, if you will."_

_He turns slowly to face Ise Nanao, Rangiku's best friend and confidant. This woman knows their secret – after all, she is the one who started the whole thing. "Ise-fukutaichō."_

_Her eyes pierce him from behind her glasses and he gets the feeling she sees all too much. "She won't stay," the woman says finally._

"_I'm sorry?"_

"_You know what I mean, Kuchiki-taichō. She won't be a secret for much longer. A person can only wake up to a cold bed so many times."_

_He stares at her for a long times. "Is that all?"_

_She ducks her head, clutching a book to her chest but he feels no fear from her. "Yes, Kuchiki-taichō."_

As Byakuya stumbles back a step or two in surprise, he gets the feeling that Ise Nanao may have been right.

xXx

_I think I'll end it there. I'd wanted to detail everything that happens here, but it would have dragged the chapter on for too long and while I know you all love (and deserve, after such a long absence!) long chapters, I'm trying to keep a sort of format going on here. Next chapter involves the Ran/Bya rolling around of the ground and more breaking of the kenseikan. Lol, if you've read Lost And Found you'll know that it's not nearly as kinky as it sounds._

_Ah well, that's me for this update! _


	16. Chapter 16

_**In celebration of the fact that I'm reaching the end of this story (in my head at least) the fifth reviewer of every chapter from here on out can request a drabble from me of any character/pairing/threesome from either Bleach or Naruto. **__My drabbles tend to be quite long, so you're in luck. However, if I object to the pairing too much, we'll have to talk that over, lol. And please, no smut. Goodness, that's a rather lot of rules for what's meant to be a thank you for sticking with me. I wish I had the time and energy to write drabbles for everyone, but alas, I fail._

_**A huge thank you to cricketchick1990 **__for supplying the song _Comatose by Skillet_ and for listening to me whine about my word count. Without you I'm sure this chapter wouldn't have been posted until next week._

xXx

Rikichi fled.

"Did you ever call Hisana 'commoner' in public because of rank?" I asked, a tad hysterical. Breaking down wasn't really one of my favourite things to do. "Did you ever ignore her, pretend she meant nothing to you—" He opened his mouth to say something but I overrode him. "No, you listen to me." I felt like screaming it, but I was Matsumoto Rangiku and I didn't scream.

Well, something had to hold me together.

"I'm not your wife," I said to those blank navy eyes. Deep, deep blue but not the slightest hint of _depth._ "I know that, and I've no wish to take her place. But damn it, I don't run after you parroting 'Kuchiki-sama, Kuchiki-sama'. Surely I deserve the same courtesy by _at least_ you using my first name."

"There are strictures—"

"There is more to life than strictures!" I yelled.

_There goes that idea_. I sighed, shoving my hair out of my face. There was no Operation this time, no Plan. Just the truth.

"Almost everything I've ever had, Byakuya, I've had to earn. And I'm proud of those achievements but…once. Just once I was hoping to not constantly worry if I was good enough, if I'll be able to see it through, constantly having to prove that I'm _worth_ it. I mean sure, I've got confidence by the barrelful but damn Byakuya, being with you can really screw a girl around."

He didn't try to speak this time and even after three years I still couldn't tell what was swimming behind his eyes.

"You know I always thought it was impossible for anyone to hurt me more than Gin," I said softly. "And yet here I am and it's _worse_ because I can't let you go, but I have to. Because I…deserve better. I've watched too many women pine after a man that will never be theirs. I know how this story goes, and there is no happy ending in it. Not for me.

I shook my head. "And the sad thing is I probably would have stayed with you, stayed your secret. _That_ is the type of woman you have made me into, Byakuya. But I still have enough self-respect to leave now. I _refuse_ to be the other woman. I won't stand by and watch them pull your strings, tugging you into a marriage you don't want, see you have an heir with a woman you don't love and be there for you during the whole thing. I am nobody's mistress."

"You would have me choose between my family and my love," he said tonelessly.

"Oh, so you do love me? Because I couldn't tell." Alright, so that was a lie, but a lie so near the truth that I could twist it that way. He didn't _want_ to love me, which was maybe worse. "And in answer to your question, no I am not. There is no choice here. I am simply leaving. Whatever you choose to do after is entirely up to you." Alright, so I wasn't quite as strong as I was pretending to be.

Tōshirō walked into the office and came to a sudden stop, raising an eyebrow.

"I'll come back later shall I?"

"No, taichō. I was just leaving."

He walked out anyway, without a word. I made to follow him, turning my back on Byakuya.

If he said something, I'd certainly stop. I wasn't so cruel as to not give him a chance.

Okay, so I wanted him to tell me he'd give it all for me. I wanted him to beg forgiveness, or at the very least say sorry. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. For the first time in my life, it was _me_ in this position, not my partner.

"It is not as simple as you have made it out to be, Rangiku."

I didn't turn. I couldn't. "No, Byakuya, it _is_ fairly simple. Just not as simple as you want it to be."

"What would you have me do?" There was an edge to his voice, a hint that maybe he was more torn over this than honour or pride or whatever insisted he should be.

The rage was a sudden flash of fire through my veins. I whipped around, still with the resolve to leave, just not as soon as I'd planned. My fists slammed into his chest which apparently was not the reaction he'd been looking for, seeing as he reeled backwards. I did it again and this time he actually fell.

Unfortunately, not having expected this myself, I overbalanced and went with him. Following the first thought that jumped into my head, I tangled my fingers in his hair and yanked out the kenseikan.

"What would I have you do?" I asked quietly. The hair ornament cracked in my too-tight grasp, reminding me of one night three years ago at the start of this mess. "_Care, _Byakuya, about more than this." I shook the kenseikan. "_Acknowledge _me, for crying out loud. Be a lover, not a secret."

"I—"

I didn't want to hear what he had to say. Not now. "As much as I love being with you, love _you_, nothing is worth losing myself." I stood, leaving there on the ground. It was the oddest thing, seeing him there on the ground. I dropped the kenseikan next to him and this time turned to leave with every intention of following through.

"I do love you."

I kept walking.

"Prove it."

xXx

I'd only been walking for a few minutes when someone called out, running after me.

"Matsumoto-san!"

I slammed a large, me-like smile across my face and turned around.

"Rikichi-kun! Why are you here, love, shouldn't you be with your taichō?"

"Uh…" He did an odd little shuffle thing. "I just sort of…wanted to say…"

"Was it about me and Kuchiki-taichō?" I asked gently.

"Sort of?"

"I think it's probably best if you keep that to yourself, Rikichi-kun, 'kay?" My face nearly broke with how hard I was smiling.

"Eh? No, Matsumoto-san, that's not it! I mean, I already knew."

I blinked, smile falling away. "You did?"

"Well, sure." Another Odd Shuffle Thing. "I mean, it's been two years."

I smiled, a real smile, despite myself. So he wasn't as observant as he thought he was. Cute. "So what was it you wanted to say, Rikichi-kun?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah…I just sorta wanted to tell you that, uh…I'monyourside." He looked around nervously as if Byakuya was about to pop out from a crack in the ground wielding his bankai.

I laughed a little and patted his cheek. "Don't be silly. There are no sides here. It's just…" I trailed off, uncertain of what to say mainly because I was uncertain of what 'it' was. "Ah well. Rikichi-kun, I've got an appointment with someone in a few minutes, so I'm afraid I'm going to disappear on you."

And I did just that.

xXx

The door to Nanao's cottage swung open before I'd even knocked once and suddenly everything was pink.

"Shunsui, let go," I laughed. It was quite possibly the worst attempt I'd ever made, but then again, I had no alcohol in me.

Oh, there was an idea. I needed to get drunk.

I voiced this suggested to the Captain of the Eighth Division as he led me inside.

"No, Ran-chan, now is not the time to be getting drunk! Now is the time to be surrounding yourself with good friends and good food."

"Because that's what you used to do."

He had the good grace to look ashamed.

I frowned. "Shunsui, how do you know what happened? Are we even referring to the same thing?"

"If you're referring to you spectacularly dumping Bya-kun on his behind? Then yes. Your kawaii little taichō turned up about ten minutes ago to inform us."

"No, Shunsui, Hitsugaya-taichō showed up ten minutes ago to inform _me_. You eavesdropped." I jerked my head in the direction of Nanao's voice. Her hair was down for once and there was a sad look in her eye. She sighed. "I did warn him. I'm sorry, Rangiku."

I shrugged. "Eh, don't worry about it."

"Shunsui, leave."

Instead of launching into a monologue about how cruel his 'precious Nanao-chan' was, Shunsui swooped down from his six foot four inches, dropped a kiss on my cheek and swept out the door in a flurry of pink.

I raised an eyebrow at my best friend, trying desperately to keep everything inside.

Well, not everything. That would be mildly self destructive. Just how much I wanted to break down and cry and throw things.

"What's got into him?"

"Don't play dumb, Rangiku, and sit down. Would you like some tea?"

"Ah…green, thanks," I said warily, sitting on her comfortable couch.

She bustled around her tiny kitchen, looking particularly homey. I smiled despite myself; seeing other people happy always gave me the warm-fuzzies, but seeing this woman in particular happy could make me forget my own problems, for a little while at least. No more crying on my bosom for her.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked matter-of-factly, setting my tea down in front of me and herself down next to me.

"No particularly," I murmured, cupping the tea in both hands.

"Will you at least tell me what happened?"

"It's not something you can fix, Nanao."

"Tell me anyway."

There was no demand in her voice. She didn't want to know because she was interested in the story, she wanted me to tell her because she thought it would help.

It wouldn't, but I told her anyway, cracking jokes that broke my voice instead of the atmosphere.

She opened her mouth at the end, but I overrode her before she could say a word.

"I'm not going to cry," I said, coercing my voice into some sort of evenness. "Because if I cry, Nanao, everything I did and said today means nothing." I tipped my head back slightly and didn't blink.

She understood. Of course she did, she'd said the same thing to me often enough, after days and weeks and months and years of refusing Shunsui because she couldn't believe what _he_ said was true.

It worked out for her, though.

The door crashed open to reveal a breathless Rukia.

"You have to come with me," she panted.

I stared. Nanao stared. We both stared together and Rukia stared right back.

"Eh?" I said finally.

"Come _on_." She jerked her head towards the doorframe (now bereft of an actual door), stalking impatiently forward and grabbing my wrist.

"Rukia, what are you doing?" I asked, bewildered, as she started to drag me towards the exit.

She flashed me a wide grin. "This is brilliant, trust me. But we'll have to hurry, or we'll miss it."

"Miss _what?_"

"Byakuya."

xXx

_Yes, another evil cliffy, I'm so sorry. And 200 words shy of 2000, but I spent two days on the first 600 because it turns out what I had already written didn't fit in with what panned out in the story._

_Basically, it was all over and done with in eighteen words which I thought was rather anticlimactic and hardly professional. Seeing as we still have at least two more world-changing arguments to go, I thought I best fix that._

_Good god, I'm watching Titanic as I write this and I'm in floods. One of the few movies that has never failed to make me cry. I can't do it. I can't watch any further than the part where he draws her. I just can't make myself do it. I hate sad endings._

_And for those of you in NZ, Don't Drink And Fry._

_Actually, that's good advice for anyone, really, but most likely on those in NZ will get it._


	17. Chapter 17

**EDIT: _Hugely sorry for the mishaps with the chapters. FFN cocked up then i cocked up and pretty much everyone bar you lot cocked up. Sorry for the false alarm with chapter 18._**

_The lucky winner of the chapter 16 drabble was, in what I swear was total coincidence, cricketchick1990. She requested Ichi/Ruki based on Comatose, which is now written and can be found on my profile if you're interested._

_**Still doing drabble offers**__ so the fifth reviewer of this chapter with get one. If it's Stef again, it'll be the sixth reviewer. Sorry Stef._

_**Special thanks**__ this chapter to __**txgirl123**__ for being such a darling in her review and getting my arse into gear a whole day earlier than planned._

xXx

"Sit here and watch."

I stared dubiously at the tiny cramped space. "Why?"

"Just _do _it," Rukia insisted. "Anyway, proceedings are meant to have been held off until my return, but the family aren't fond of me so they may have badgered Nii-sama into continuing. Either way, they'll still be arguing." And she disappeared.

I stared dubiously once again at the tiny cramped space and noticed two holes in the what was apparently not a wall but—

There was a _painting_ covering a rather large hole in the wall.

_Cheap bastards._

Sighing and feeling much put-upon, I squeezed myself and my boobs into the area Rukia had pointed out. There was an extra bit of canvas placed over the back of the painting and I ripped it off, not surprised in the slightest to find two eye-spaced holes which I then looked through.

The first thing I noticed was Byakuya. The second thing I noticed was how highly illogical this was, as there were several men and one woman in various states of decrepit-ness neatly blocking my view of him, but there you have it.

Each one of said decrepit people were all yelling, either at each other or Byakuya who, as always, looked remarkably composed.

Rukia slipped into the room and took the empty seat at Byakuya's left. The room fell silent, everyone bar her brother glowering at her.

"My apologies," she murmured. "My business took somewhat longer than expected. If we could pick up where we left off, Nii-sama?" Rukia turned to look encouragingly at Byakuya. He was far away, but I hadn't learnt nothing in three years. There was a twitch to his lips, a glint in his eye that suggested he was off to the firing squad.

"By all means," he replied tonelessly, directing his attention at the rest of his family. "The rest of your objections, if you please."

And boy, did they object. I hadn't quite clued onto what it was they were objecting to yet, but all things considered, it was probably something I wanted.

It took me a while to decipher what they were saying, what with all of them yelling at once, but I finally figured out that they were talking about a woman.

The volume escalated and the whole thing was starting to get ridiculous. I really needed some popcorn.

Byakuya held up a hand. "Cease."

I've never seen a group of people shut up so fast in my life.

"I have heard you objections," he stated. Had he? I certainly hadn't and by the bored look on Rukia's face she hadn't got the gist of them either. "None of which will change the past."

What past _What past?_ Damn, this was like one of those cheesy spy novels that Nanao swears she doesn't read.

"Nor shall they influence my decisions in the future."

One of the crusty old men stood up, hands clenched. Surely, Byakuya-sama, you do not intend to _marry_ this harlot."

Harlot? That sounded like—

The large room I was looking into suddenly felt full of deadly intent.

"Leave," Byakuya said softly.

"Byakuya-sama—"

It was Rukia's turn to stand. "I believe he asked you to leave."

It appeared that while Rukia wasn't any better liked by the family, her words nonetheless carried the weight of an heir because the man left. Plotting revenge, no doubt, but he still left.

Rukia took her seat again, delicate features doing a remarkable impression of imitating her brother's. I wondered briefly if Ichigo had ever seen her like this and then thrust that thought out of my mind as Byakuya spoke again.

"It is not my intention to marry any woman at this time."

"An heir—" Another nameless Elder.

"The heir to the Kuchiki clan is and always shall be my beloved sister, Kuchiki Rukia. Unless, of course, I produce an heir."

_What on your own? _Now wouldn't that be a sight?

"Is that it?" The only woman other than Rukia spoke up, seemingly desperate. "Is she pregnant?"

"One would assume, Chiaki, that a whore like Matsumoto Rangiku—"

I blinked once in shock and the next thing I saw was Byakuya standing, Senbonzakura drawn.

"I'd say he wants you to leave as well," Rukia suggested. The man who'd spoken did so without arguing, white-faced. He was walking rather oddly which lead me to believe he'd lost control in a rather embarrassing way. I strangled a giggle.

Byakuya sheathed his zanpakutō but remained standing. I was still in a state of mild shock.

He'd told them about me. Like – he'd _told_ them about me! About us!

I had expected him to fight in some way (well, hoped), to bargain perhaps or—

Oh. Oh I saw his plan now, although I wouldn't have expected Rukia to be in on it. He knew I was watching. He thought that I would allow him back into my bed, my life, my _heart _(alright, so it had only been half a day and he'd never left my heart. But still) if he made a token gesture, telling his family that we'd once been together but weren't anymore.

Bastard.

"Matsumoto-fukutaicho and I are no longer in a personal relationship," were his next words, quiet as always. "That does not, however, entitle you to impugn her honour in any way."

I nearly snorted aloud. According to these old farts, I _had_ no honour to be impugned. But how it felt to be defended in public by him! Even if it was just a show, it gave me the warm-fuzzies.

"Byakuya-sama…" the female Elder started hesitantly. I didn't blame her – Byakuya was scary enough without Senbonzakura and he looked about ready to draw her again if this Chiaki said the wrong thing. She soldiered on bravely. "If your…relationship with the good fukutaichō has ended, I must ask why you found it necessary to inform us." It went unsaid that she would rather have not known.

But finally, some tact! If the old biddy hadn't so obviously struggled with the words 'relationship' and 'good vice-captain', I would have been rooting for her.

Byakuya sat down again. The whole meeting was rather like one big yo-yo. Idly, I wondered when the string would break.

"I shall attempt to win her back."

_Ping!_ Oh look, there it goes.

The Elders leapt to their feet in silent outrage – well, except Chiaki, who looked rather like she'd been expected that response. From what I could see, everyone bar Rukia and the old lady looked gob-smacked. Even Byakuya had that odd quirk to his eyebrow that meant he was mildly astonished.

"Win back?" one of the remaining men gasped. "Does this mean – surely not. This fukutaichō, this Matsumoto Rangiku, it was _she_ who broke off your…relations?"

I loved listening to these old crusties stumbling around for a polite word to use in place of sex.

"Indeed." Apparently it was Rukia's turn to speak and the look she shot at Byakuya was none too happy. "Our revered leader-sama has been jilted by the one woman who ever did him any good."

_What about Hisana?_

I thought on that question, remembered Rukia's near execution and concluded that she was probably quite right. Not that I'd done much good in the end.

"Oh sit down, the lot of you," Chiaki groused. "Your collective sense of superiority is inflated enough

When he next spoke, Byakuya's voice was near inaudible. "I intend to beg her forgiveness."

What?

Total outrage. The table exploded, although they all stayed sitting down this time. Chiaki sighed and shook her head. I got the feeling that while she was most definitely a bigot, she was an open-minded bigot which is quite possibly one of the rarer paradoxes in three worlds.

Byakuya waited for the others to settle down before he resumed speaking. "If I succeed in obtaining her forgiveness—" Yes, because it's a legal trading substance, you see. Actually, it might be, anything goes in the Seireitei. I'll have to check up on that. "I shall humbly request of her that she share this residence with myself and my honoured family."

Hah! _Finally_, Rukia's turn to be surpri—wait, what?

"You do not have our permission to make such a decision Byakuya-sama," one of the men said quickly. Chiaki looked about to head-desk herself.

Byakuya blinked slowly, dangerously. "I am not requesting permission." Each word was like icy death. "This is my decision, and whatever you choose to do hereafter is on your own head. However, I muse note that if you choose unfavourably, I shall step down from my place as head of this family and Rukia will lead in my stead."

It was then I noticed he wasn't wearing the kenseikan.

"_What?_"

Everyone immediately looked in my direction. I froze, struggling not to blink.

Oddly enough, Chiaki looked like she was struggling even harder not to head-desk. Rukia gave into the temptation and there was a loud thunk that echoed around the now-silent room.

I saw the recognition light in Byakuya's eyes and just managed to prevent myself from swearing.

"I…shall investigate this disturbance," he said slowly, voice holding a softer note than it had during the whole meeting.

_Like _hell_ you will._

I ran.

Of course, I hadn't paid the slightest bit of attention when Rukia had lead me to the spy-hole so I had no idea where I was running _to_, but that hardly mattered so long as it was away from Byakuya.

A hand caught my wrist and I was pulled back against something hard and flat. I closed my eyes, the thought _if I can't see you, you can't see me_ running frantic circles around my head. I knew this hard flatness.

"What is it you are doing, Rangiku?" Byakuya's voice shuddered through my spine.

_Shit. Shitshitshit. _I had idea what to do and as in most cases where I had no idea what to do, I decided to turn the whole thing into a joke.

"What do you mean, 'what is it I am doing'? This was all a part of _your _plan!"

Alright. So that didn't turn out quite as I'd intended it do.

The strange thing was that it had only been half a day since I'd walked away, three since I'd been lying on his chest stroking his hair but it felt like so much longer, which just made the situation _worse_.

"Plan?" The slight inflection in his voice was one of bafflement.

I felt more like the protagonist out of one of Momo's bad romance novels now, about to fall back into the hero's arms.

Except I was already in Byakuya's arms. Well, one arm, and flush against his body. His other hand still gripped my wrist, but there was no pressure and I could have easily ripped a way if I chose to.

I didn't choose to.

I swallowed. "Don't pretend you don't know," I said, trying to inject some iron into my voice and failing miserably.

"I've no need." His voice was inescapably gentle despite his confusion and I experienced a brief moment of déjà vu, thinking of Gin. "I truly have no idea—"

"Don't lie," I interrupted quietly, closing my eyes. "Byakuya, don't lie to me."

"If there were ever anyone I would lie to, Rangiku, it would not be you."

"Then why am I here?" It hurt and I felt like a whiny little bitch for admitting it. It hurt to feel his arm around me like this, his chest pressed to my back as had happened so many times before. It hurt, and I really didn't want it to hurt anymore.

"I would surmise Rukia brought you here when she halted proceedings."

"Proceedings?" I still hadn't looked at him. "Is that what you call it? Telling your family about you lover – ex-lover, rather. Proceedings?"

"I did not know you were there."

"That's not an answer to the question," I replied coldly, eyes still closed. I didn't care about the answer and I was pretty sure he knew it. But I also didn't want to think about the implications of him not knowing I was there.

Because if he hadn't known—

_Not_ thinking about the implications!

"I meant all I said."

"That's not—"

"Do you truly care for the answer?"

Silence.

I turned in his arm and placed my hands on his chest, looking him near in the eye. "If I told everyone in the Seireitei and the Rukongai our history and didn't get back together with you, would you still want to be with me?"

His eyes were open, so open, more emotion showing than I'd ever seen. Well, with the exception of that night he pulled his bankai on me, but this – _this_.

This was all the emotion I'd ever wanted to see and never hoped I'd get.

"Always."

I licked my lips nervously, but his eyes remained locked with mine. It was so _alien_, seeing him so unguarded and I wasn't sure I liked it. "You're making it very hard for me to maintain my resolve, Byakuya. Please stop looking at me like that."

He didn't. Bastard.

"My offer stands, Rangiku."

I hit his chest. "Damn it, Byakuya, the question here isn't what would you give up for me!"

"No. It is about what I am willing to give up for them, and I am not willing to give you up."

The words were simple, said unlike anything I'd ever heard from him before and felt like a sucker-punch to the gut. But like, a nice sucker-punch.

"You want me to move in." I said shakily.

He nodded, once, apparently having exhausted his supply of words.

"This place is really big." I couldn't live in a two story town-house. How on earth would I manage—

Waitwaitwait. Hold on a sec.

I was seriously considering this? Just this morning…

_Just this morning, Byakuya wasn't willing to step down from one of the most prestigious positions in the Seireitei for _you_, either._

_Oh, shut up,_ I grumbled back at myself. Briefly I wondered if I'd gone insane then concluded it had happened a long time ago.

"This doesn't fix everything," I said hesitantly. Oh hell I was _caving._

"I understand."

"Your family—"

"The family is changing, Rangiku. But sometimes change must be…"

"Beaten into people?" I murmured.

"You would be the expert, it seems."

I hit him on the shoulder, but said nothing. I was sick of making the first move.

"You…" He appeared to struggle for words. "Do you accept my…" More struggling. It was very silent struggling, but I knew him.

"Do I want to move in with you?" I supplied.

He nodded.

"My, my, Kuchiki-sama, is that the faintest hint of a blush I see sprinkling you cheeks?" I teased, leaning up and kissing said cheek. "Well. We'll see how it goes, shall we?" I turned and slipped my arm through his. "You know you made that man wet his pants."

A pause.

"Yes."

xXx

_Gah. Um. Yeah. Well, they're really pretty? I hope it didn't seem like Ran caved to quickly but – well – she's in _love. _And Byakuya did a very brave thing and I'm a huge romantic at heart. Squish the fruit before you throw it at least?_

_Completely off topic, here I rant about authors who say they'll only update when they get x amount of reviews. Especially on stories that get a lot of reviews anyway – then they're just being greedy. Now I know I frequently beg for reviews and have once or twice said reviews are motivation which means more updates, but I would never _ever_ withhold chapters just because I didn't have enough reviews. I post as soon as I've finished writing the chapter, regardless of the amount of reviews I've received. _

_That does not, of course, mean that I don't want more reviews. NO MORE UPDATES UNLESS I GET…_

_Nah._


	18. Chapter 18

_**NAMIMAKURA HAS DONE TEH AWESOME!**_

_Yeah, I have fanart. Check out Wastedsouls on devart, k? She fanarted The Stage. I love her for this._

_So, uh, not when I said I'd update, but I didn't promise. Did I?_

_Well, truth of the matter is I brought a Playstation 2 and got distracted. Also, it turns out I need about a two day break between writing The Stage. I update faster than most stories anyway, so in this case I'm entirely unrepentant._

_Does anyone have suggestions for games to buy? Preferably along the Final Fantasy style._

_**Winner of last chapter's drabble was **_**Calendar**. _She asked for a Hitsu/Karin prequel to Lost And Found which is now up under the title _**Foreshadow**

_Lastly, I know squidged is not a word (but squeegee is?). Nonetheless, I'm using it._

xXx

I spent the rest of the day busy, ordering about a group of strapping young recruits to run back and forth from my room to Kuchiki Mansion with the excuse that it was a training mission.

"Actually, there's a good idea," I remarked to my tail, leaning against the gate. "You could charge the other taichō to send their recruits in here for infiltration practice. It's like a bloody rabbit's warren."

Whilst I'd been bossing around my recruits, Byakuya had been following me like a very dangerous, overgrown puppy. Hence the tail remark. It was kind of cute and really annoying.

He said nothing, choosing to stare impassively at the young man who had just run up to me.

"Matsumoto-fukutaichō we're finished!" he gasped, glancing nervously at my overbearing shadow.

I clasped my hands together and beamed ostentatiously. "Thank you so much, Nakamura-kun! You can go back to the barracks now."

He smiled shyly back at me, gulped at Byakuya then bowed and made a hasty exit.

I turned to my newly reinstated lover, winding my arms about his neck and leaning up to kiss his cheek. "That's getting really irritating, you know."

"As was he," Byakuya replied.

I dropped back and pouted at him. "It's lovely that you don't want to let me out of your sight, really, but have a little faith, eh? I can look after myself."

He had the good grace to look ashamed. Well, as close to ashamed as Byakuya's facial features could get.

"I wouldn't be too sure about that, Byakuya. She's a loose cannon, this one."

"Emphasis on the loose, Ichigo?" I enquired sweetly. Then I stopped to think about what I'd just said. "Ichigo!"

He laughed as I barrelled into him. "Eh, don't look so sour, Byakuya," he said over my shoulder. "One human battering ram is enough for me."

"I shall give you the benefit of the doubt, Kurosaki, and assume you are speaking of Rangiku and Rukia's personalities," Byakuya replied coolly.

I stifled a giggle, returned to my lover's side.

Ichigo leaned his head back against his hands and looked around. "So, what're you two doing, anyway? I thought this thing was meant to be kept under wraps."

I glanced up at Byakuya. "He had a change of heart," I said with a smile.

My orange-haired friend chuckled. "You bullied him into it?"

"No, actually, he came to the decision all by himself," I admitted.

"Would you do me the courtesy of not speaking of me as if I were not here?" Byakuya murmured. There was no inflection to his voice but when I looked at his face again there was a certain fondness directed at me.

"Whoa!" Ichigo's hands flopped to his side in surprise. "There's an actual expression on his face! Ran-chan, how do you _do_ that?"

"It's very hard to see you as an adult when you come out with things like that, Ichigo," I told him.

He scowled. "Che. You've been spending too much time with each other. Anyway, have you seen Rukia?"

"Damn, how long have you been away?" I asked. "Rukia moved out of the Mansion about a year ago."

"Eh, she's been visiting me. Wonder why she didn't mention it. Where's she living now?"

"Thirteenth's barracks. What's so urgent, anyway? Usually everyone knows you're coming here before you do."

He scratched his head. "Surprise visit, I guess. I'll be going away for a bit so I won't be able to come up. Thought I'd better tell her."

I raised an eyebrow. "How long?"

He must have channelled Rikichi or something, because he executed a near perfect Odd Shuffle Thing. "Two years."

"Oh, she's going to _kill_ you."

"Really? You think? I mean, it's work. Uryuu's gonna look after the clinic for me and—"

I started to bundle him away from the gate. "Go to District Two West and find the flower shop there. _Then_ look for Rukia. And brush up on some of the Shakespeare, you're going to need it!" I yelled after his disappearing form.

I got a wave in response.

"What are the odds of his survival, do you reckon?" I asked Byakuya.

He thought about it. "With Rukia, one can never be too certain." He offered me his arm. "If you would allow me to escort you?"

I grinned, placing my hand on his. "By all means, Kuchiki-sama. Lead on."

xXx

The bed was really big.

Like – really big.

So big, in fact, that no matter how I tossed and turned I just couldn't get comfortable.

"Rangiku."

"Am I bothering you?"

Silence. Then suddenly Byakuya's arm snaked around my waist and pulled my back flush against his body. Then his other arm wrapped around me and a few seconds later I heard his breathing even out.

He'd fallen asleep.

Smiling to myself, I squidged in closer and closed my eyes. When I opened them again, the sun was streaming through the window (my window!) and Byakuya (my Byakuya!) was still asleep.

xXx

"Oi, Ran-chan! C'mere a sec!"

I glanced up in surprised and nearly blinded myself.

"Ikkaku!" I moaned. "What did Yumichika say about shining your head in summer?"

"Che." For once he chose to ignore the jibe. "Heard the news yet?"

I pouted at him. "Maybe if you told me what this news _was_, Ikkaku, I'd be able to tell you if I knew about it."

He leaned in close and look very carefully around to make sure no one was listening. "Turns out that pansy ass taichō has been getting some, yeah? And people are saying that it's fuckin' _serious_."

I smirked, hitting him lightly on the arm. "Ikkaku, you're an old woman and what's more, behind on the times." I sauntered off. "I don't think I'd even classify that as news anymore, Ikkaku. _I've _known for the past three years."

I couldn't see it, but his gape was large enough to be felt.

"Oi! Where're ya going? Ya have to _explain_ shit like that, Ran, ya can't just walk away!"

I turned and started walking backwards. "I'm going home, Ikkaku-_taichō_."

He screwed up his face at the title and also possibly in confusion. "Eh? But ain't the Tenth's barracks that way?" He pointed in the direction I'd come from.

I threw a bright smile at him. "Think about it, Ikkaku."

_That should keep him busy for the next few days._

xXx

Slowly, the news spread about the Seireitei, which I'd found rather strange. Gossip usually spread like wildfire amongst the shinigami, gossip involving Kuchiki Byakuya doubly fast. Then again, I guess it was fairly unbelievable.

Byakuya's fangirls took it the hardest. The poor girls couldn't even take it out on me, the 'other woman' because they looked up to me. Embarrassingly enough, I was what they aspired to be. They lined up to ask if it was true and then to cry into my chest when I confirmed it. I went through three shihakushō in one day.

I sighed, fixing up my fourth uniform and sliding back behind my desk. Tōshirō had finally pushed all of the fangirls out the door and ordered me back my paperwork. He hadn't seemed to be surprised in the least when I'd stolen those recruits to move my stuff into the Kuchiki Mansion.

There was a light tapping on the fusuma.

"Come in," my Captain drawled, signing his name on another paper. It slid open and there stood Kuchiki Chiaki, drowning in her elaborate kimono.

Tōshirō's eyes widened, but that was his only sign of surprise. He screwed up what I guessed was a 513B and met her gaze calmly.

"I can only assume you are here to speak to my fukutaichō, Kuchiki-sama," he said.

She chuckled and it sounded like gravel grating together. "Indeed. You do not mind if I borrow her, Hitsugaya-taichō?"

I was surprised to hear the honest respect in her tone that was slightly absent when she spoke of me.

He waved his hand. "By all means."

Chiaki turned to me. "Matsumoto-fukutaichō, if would walk with me?"

I stood. "Why not?"

I let her pride go through the fusuma first followed by herself, then me.

"Kuchiki Chiaki." My Captain's voice drifted towards us. "Understand that Matsumoto-fukutaichō has my full backing. I would be…displeased should any harm come to her through her association with the Kuchiki clan."

Whoa. Who knew my cute little Captain could work his way around a sentence like that? And he was sticking up for me! How sweet!

"I shall make the consequences of arousing your ire known, Hitsugaya-taichō," Chiaki replied smoothly. "Follow me, Matsumoto Rangiku."

I did so. We were at the Kuchiki Mansion (home!) before she spoke again.

"You cannot win," she told me as we wandered through the gardens.

"Chiaki-sama?" It was politer than 'Eh?'

"You have been refusing the services of the Kuchiki servants."

"Will all due respect, Chiaki-sama, that's because I don't need them."

She cackled. "Aa, but the others won't see it that way. They will call you ungrateful, refusing the gifts that our 'revered leader' has bestowed on you. If you utilize the servants, they will say you are a greedy money-grasper."

"Which is exactly why I stayed in the shadows for three years." I retorted, more than a tinge of sarcasm in my tone.

"Biding your time, they will say," she countered, gesturing towards a garden seat. "Sit, would you? My old legs can't keep up with your young ones."

We sat and I waited for her to speak again.

Chiaki coughed. "I have known for quite a while, Matsumoto-fukutaichō, that you are not going to go away." I stared and she cackled again. "Aa. You were not quite as discreet as you thought you were."

She lapsed into silence again. I really had no words, so I just waited again.

"I have been alive for over two thousand years," she said finally. "I was born Kuchiki Chiaki and I shall die Kuchiki Chiaki. I have not spent these years guarding the Kuchiki bloodline to see it falter now."

"You don't want Rukia to inherit," I translated flatly.

"Rukia-sama does not wish to inherit the kenseikan either, fukutaichō. However, if Byakuya-sama is to fall in battle or pass away without producing an heir, it will pass to her regardless."

She drew in a deep breath. "The Kuchiki clan has dwindled. The loss of the Shiba clan from the nobility and Shihouin Yoruichi's defection has restricted possible spouses and the bloodlines are too far intertwined as it is. Rukia-sama is the only possible heir to our vast heritage and should she inherit the Kuchiki clan with fade away to be replaced with the blood of a commoner and a human."

"Ichigo will die eventually," I said tightly.

"That will not make him a Kuchiki," Chiaki retorted. "Byakuya-sama is in love with you, fukutaichō. He speaks of you in the same tone as he spoke of Hisana-sama. It seems he has a penchant for common blood."

"You don't like me very much, do you?"

"I've nothing against you, fukutaichō. It is your blood and background that disagrees with me."

"My blood and background _are_ me, Chiaki-sama and I would say you disagree with them not the other way around."

She rasped out another chuckle. "Ah, but you've got guts, girl. Something Hisana-sama never possessed. You will make a good addition to our clan."

"I'm so glad to have your approval," I remarked dryly.

"You'll need it," she replied, and her voice was much darker. "I disagree with commoners because they could never understand the depth of our history, our triumphs and successes, our failures and falls. But I understand those faults can be overcome for the continuation of the bloodline."

"What's the point of this whole conversation, Chiaki-sama?"

"Byakuya-sama will not marry after you. If the child is not yours, there will be no child. This I know, but other members of the family are not quite so astute. You have my support because without it you will have the same end as Hisana-sama. Plus," she added. "I do like you, girl. Just don't tell anyone I said it."

I looked up at the dark night sky. "Have you ever been in love, Chiaki-sama?"

"Once," she replied after a slight pause. "I was born Kuchiki Chiaki and I shall die Kuchiki Chiaki, fukutaichō. Some things do not work out as they have for yourself and Byakuya-sama. Especially not two thousand years ago."

"Hmm. Well, I don't know if you'll get what I mean, but I don't need your permission or support to love Byakuya and I'm not like Hisana. It would take a lot more than stress to make me fall ill."

I stood and started to head in the direction of my Division. I still had some paperwork to complete.

"Hisana-sama was poisoned, fukutaichō. Byakuya-sama does not know."

I kept walking.

xXx

_It's not actually a cliffie, although it sounds like it. The next chapter will start from a different point than this one and although it is a sort of important point, it's not a cliffie._

_Seriously. It's not – hey, no wait! – I said it's not – _wait! – _Hey, put the fruit down and back awa – _OUCH!

_Yes, I'm an oddball. But you knew that already._


	19. Chapter 19

**MANY IMPORTANT THINGS TO SAY, PLEASE READ AUTHOR'S NOTE!**

_**First off**__ – _Namimakura_ has once again done the most amazing thing and started a fanfic of __**The Stage**__. Basically, she's gonna write it from Byakuya's POV. First chapter is up and it's awesome._

_**Second **__– I have a __**competition type**__**thing **__here because I am very lazy. Winner gets – what else – a drabble and their idea written into __**The Stage.**_

_**Basically**__, what I want is for someone to design __**Rangiku's bankai**__. Because, quite frankly, I have no idea what to do without copying blatantly from Senbonzakura.__** This would have to include an extra name **__or what have you. Tensa Zangetsu, Senbonzakura Kageyoshi etc. I speak very little Japanese (alright, none, even after taking it for a year) and I don't want to cock it up._

_I just won a game of Solitare in 97 seconds._

_**Winner of Chapter 18's drabble was **_**Waya.Y**_. The drabble is now posted under the title __**Love And War**__ if you're interested, k?_

_**I know ep 132 is filler**__. Nonetheless, I'm using it as canon, k?_

_By the way, you've probably noticed this but yes I do indeed have a thing for being kissed on the corner of the mouth. I don't know what it is, but it just seems so incredibly intimate._

xXx

It was morning, and I was in Byakuya's office, having walked to work with him at some ungodly hour of the morning. It was seven now and I didn't have to be at Tenth for another two hours, so I'd parked myself on the edge of his desk to keep him company.

He liked it, although he'd never admit it. I could see it in the way he moved, far more at ease than he'd been the many other times I'd taken up this position.

I leaned back on my hands, sighing happily. "It's nice, isn't it?"

The faint scratch of his brush stopped and he turned his head up to me, a quizzical look in his eye. I smiled softly and reached out to brush his fringe aside so I could see the other one.

"Not having to sneak around," I clarified. "Not worrying about whether Rikichi's going to be early or something. It's nice."

"This is not the first time you have been found on my desk, Rangiku," he pointed out.

I threw a pout at him. He turned back to his paperwork, amused.

"Yeah, well," I pushed my weight off my hands, hopping off the desk and sauntering around behind him. He stilled as my hands slid down his chest from behind and my lips touched his ear. "It's the first time I've been able to do _this_."

He kissed me first.

I blinked against his cheek in surprise as his lips brushed the corner of my mouth before doing it properly, if only for a brief moment.

"Hmm." He picked up his brush and signed his name at the bottom of the form while I leaned against his back, dumbstruck. "You're right. It is nice."

I started to laugh.

xXx

"_Please_, Byakuya."

"I will not."

"It'll be _fun._"

He raised an eyebrow at me and I rolled my eyes.

"Right, of course. You don't know the meaning of fun." I poked him. "Oh, come _on_. Trust me, the expression on his face will be worth it."

"And you will not have to do your paperwork. I will not assist you in shirking your duties."

Heh. He was caving.

I wibbled a little.

He looked at me, turned away, then glanced back.

I wibbled more.

The corner of his mouth raised slightly and I almost thought I'd won until he started moving his head in that way that meant he was about to do his swirly-disappearing trick.

"You don't love me anymore," I whined.

It was utterly contrived. I knew it, he knew it, and before Tōshirō fled to Ukitake's to escape Byakuya's demand that my paperwork be lessened, he knew it as well.

Ah, to be a woman.

Byakuya cleared his throat. I looked up at him in surprise.

"The…expression on his face was indeed rather amusing to behold."

xXx

I tucked the truth of Hisana's death into a corner of my mind, to be remembered but not dwelt on. There was nothing I could do for her now and I wouldn't taint her death for Byakuya with suspicion and hate. It sounded cheesy, but the betrayal of family is something a person should never have to go through.

I went to visit her shrine.

A lot of people mention how much she and Rukia look alike, but while I could see the physical similarities, the overwhelming sadness in Hisana's photo made her easily distinguishable from her younger sister.

"I remember you," I told the photo softly. "I saw you once in the Rukongai, and then you showed up here seventy years ago and married him."

I sighed. "I don't know why you did it, but I don't think you were the money-grabber, the Rukongai bitch everyone said. Isshin always defended you and crazy as that man is, he's a brilliant judge of character."

This was nothing like going to Renji's grave or visiting Zaraki and Yachiru. There was always some sign of people there, worn away grass or Orihime's cranes that she made up once a year. It was…really lonely here.

"There are people saying things about me now, but people always say things about me. I just…" I shook my head. "I think you did love him. Just not in the way he wanted you too. And even if you didn't, I think you deserved better."

I stood.

"Well, now that I've gone and thoroughly depressed myself, I'd better disappear." I gave the shrine a small bow. "Wherever you are, Hisana, I hope you found peace."

xXx

"There will be a maid in your bed tonight."

I stopped. Turned my head. Stared a little.

"What?"

Chiaki gave me her trademark cackle. "Not a permanent solution, of course, but if we can just turn Byakuya-sama's eyes away from that hussy he keeps now, we'll be on the right track. The maid, of course, will be fired afterwards." She winked.

I stared harder, then sighed. "I'd say thank you if I didn't know you only told me because you know it won't work."

"Eh, I'd tell you anyway girl. I said before, there's no other option that doesn't come from the same stock as you."

"Thank you _so _much." I started to walk away, then whipped back around to face her, my hair trailing belatedly after. "Are they senile, or just stupid?"

Chiaki cackled again. "Little bit of both, I'd say."

"Didn't they take into account that I'd be in the bed as well?"

She spread her wrinkled hands. "I didn't say it was a good solution, girl."

xXx

"Byakuya?"

"Hmm?"

I shifted my head a little on his chest so I could sort-of meet his eyes. "You're playing with my hair." I reached up and tweaked a lock of his own for emphasis.

His fingers stilled.

I frowned. "I didn't say stop."

They picked up again, softly stroking backwards along my hairline. My eyes drooped closed and a small smile crossed my lips.

"You're good at this."

"Thank you."

xXx

"I am so – damn – sick – of Hollows," I ground out, interspersing short stabs at the Menos' mask before backing off. "Yumichika! What the hell are you doing?"

"Admiring your form, Ran-chan! You look beautiful!"

"Liar! You just – don't – want – to get – you hair – mess up!"

"Sorry, Ran-chan! Can't hear you!"

"I'm gonna kill you! And then I'm gonna resurrect you and give you to Byakuya! And then I'm gonna resurrect _Yachiru_ and make you play tag with her_ for the rest of your life!_"

I could have done it by myself, but it would have taken longer and there was more chance of me coming away with an injury. Hence the reason Yumichika and I had been sent together in the _first_ place.

The fruit got himself up into the air and joined me in the attack, white-faced. It was kind of sad, seeing how his sparkle had dimmed some. But we got rid of the Menos and set to the little midget hollows that had been swarming around with it.

Seventeen years ago, before the war had truly gotten underway, Tōshirō had destroyed a Menos in one stroke at twenty percent power. Of course, it had been a relatively weak Menos while this one was nearing Adjuchas, but I couldn't help resenting him.

Because seven and a half years ago, having worked for almost ten years to attain it Haineko and I very nearly achieved bankai. If we'd been able to work for another few months, we probably would have and I could have spent these seven years (or most or them – one has to take into account drinking and sex) perfecting our technique (whatever that technique was).

Instead I had spent four of those seven years stagnating in an office and the other three and a half (admittedly not Tōshirō's fault) stressing over my emotionally retarded lover.

Eh. Sometimes life – or death – throws you lemons. You just have to make sake out of those lemons then sit back and watch everyone wonder how you did it.

And if there's one thing I know about, it's sake.

xXx

"Taichō?"

"What now?" he grumbled, setting down the paperwork he'd been about to lug of to Ukitake's.

"Howsabout you put off you little play-date with Ukitake-taichō and train with me, hmm?"

Alright, so there were better ways I could have put it, but he just looked _so cute_ when he was ticked off!

"Can't you train with the Division? Some of these papers are urgent."

Oh. He was in one of _those_ moods again. Thinking about Karin.

"Aw, c'_mon_, taichō! It'll be fun!" I nudged him. "Take your mind of things. Plus, I'm the _fukutaichō. _It'd take about three dozen of them to bring me down."

He snorted. "Cocky, much?" But he set aside the paperwork.

He won, of course. I hadn't expected anything else.

"You've…gotten worse," he said, frowning.

I pulled off my scarf (I'd had it replaced after the whole bankai debacle with Byakuya) and used it to tie my sweat-streaked hair up out of my face. "What was that?"

"Since the last time we sparred. You've gotten worse."

I rolled my eyes. "Taichō. Last time we sparred was seven years ago when I was on the verge of achieving bankai. Of course I've gotten worse."

The frown deepened. "You…were? And what do you mean, of course?"

There it was. That blur in his memory around Karin's death that I don't think he even noticed. It was damn creepy.

A smile pasted itself across my face. "Don't worry about it, taichō," I told him airily. "Thanks for the spar." Reaching my arms above my head, I stretched, cracking my back. "Ah, that's better."

I started to wander off.

"Rangiku." His voice stopped me.

"Hmm?"

"You should…start training again."

Oh, no. There was that guilty tone in his voice. I shouldn't have even brought it up.

"Start training for what, taichō?" When in doubt, play dumb.

"Bankai." A pause. "I'll…help."

I turned back to him and touched his cheek. Even now, it still gave me a little thrill, having to reach up to do it. "Ah, don't worry about it, taichō. Plus, it's really something a person's gotta do on their own, yeah?" The resulting smile nearly split my face.

His voice stopped me again as I started to walk away. "So, you are going to try then. To achieve bankai."

I didn't turn around. "Ah. We'll see."

xXx

I woke up, thought about it, then leaned over the side of our bed and hurled into the well-placed bucket.

Cool hands brushed against my forehead and twisted my hair back into a knot at the base of my neck.

"Thanks," I croaked, before throwing up again.

When the up-chucking had ceased and the bucket been disposed of (alright, so I did make use of the servants at times, but _come on_. Have you seen the stuff I eat?), I flopped back on our monster of a bed and groaned.

"This isn't fair," I whined. "I've been throwing up for _three days now_." I poked Byakuya. "How come you aren't sick, huh?" I rubbed my stomach, irritated. It was feeling uncomfortably tight.

"Perhaps you should visit Fourth Division,' Byakuya said from somewhere on my right.

I made a face. "I guess."

"Very well." He scooped me up into his arms.

"Hey, what're you – Byakuya! Put me down! What're you doing?"

He blinked down at me. "I am taking you to the Fourth Division."

I pounded on his chest. "Put me_ down_, Byakuya. There's nothing wrong with my legs, and I'm not even dressed!"

Never challenge my independence. Like – ever.

In the end, after I'd struggled into my uniform and warded off Byakuya's kiss (come on, I'd just hurled three times! Who wants to kiss _that?_), I made my own way down to see Isane.

"So, am I dying or what?" I asked her after describing my symptoms.

She looked faintly thunderstruck. "I…have to check something. Would you bare a shoulder for me, Rangiku? I need skin on skin contact for this."

I frowned, worrying at my lip as I tugged on the sleeve of my kimono. "I'm not really dying, am I?" I asked as she placed her hands on my bare skin, the soft glow of kidō surrounding her hands.

She sat back, looking more than faintly thunderstruck now. "They're never going to believe this," she murmured.

"Eh? Who's not going to believe what? C'mon, tell—"

"You're pregnant."

"—me." I blinked at her. "Buah?"

"You're pregnant, Rangiku."

I sat back and did some more blinking. "Well. Uh. I guess that – um. I guess that explains why Byakuya's not sick as well."

xXx

MWAHAHAHA!_ The cliffie-bitch is BACK in business, baby!_

_Well, it won't be much of a cliffie if you've read L&F. Still a cliffie, of course, but just not such a big one._

_Oh! __**I passed all of my exams!**__ Mm hm, oh yeah!_

_Dad's gonna buy me a flying lesson which is…um…like whoa. I wasn't even expecting a congrats from him, let alone a present let alone a _flying lesson.

_In fact, I wasn't expecting gifts from anyone, but everyone's been giving me stuff! Lol, not that I don't appreciate it, but I didn't think it was that big of a deal._

_But hell, I'll make a big deal over anything if it gets me Final Fantasy VII._

_Hmm. From Mum I receive FFVII. From my father, fiery death._

_GRAAAAAAAAAAARGH! ACNE! –rips face off– _

_Ahem…_

_I'ma fly me a _plane.


	20. Chapter 20

_**I'msorry I'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorry**_

_Gah. Don't kill me, but this is sort of an interim chapter. I didn't want it to be, there was going to be a hell of a lot of Ran/Bya angst and all sorts of bomb-y stuff, but it appears it was not to be._

_Sorry, I got times a bit mixed up during the last chapter. Um…just take it as a given that a year passed in 19?_

_Also, this is where The Stage meets Lost And Found in a big way. __**The conversation between Tōshirō, Rangiku and Jūshiro about Ichigo and the echo has been not been recounted**__. Rather, Ran mentions it, but I haven't recorded it like it is in L&F. If you're interested, it can be found at the bottom of chapter three (Dead) and the first part of chapter four (Surprise). Also, Rangiku gives a proper description of what an echo actually it this chapter, because I know a lot of you were confused._

_**Drabbles – **__I'm working on them, but I couldn't get either of them finished in time to get out before this chapter. Sorry Snow, darkangel._

xXx

Four years. Four years it'd been, and we'd never once used any sort of protection. Who did in Soul Society? Because of the way the soul particles screwed with our bodies, pregnancy was about as likely as…

Well. About as likely as Byakuya falling in love with me.

"I have to find Nanao," I muttered.

"Uh…she's helping out with the kidō classes at the Academy right now, Rangiku," Isane said. "Did you want—"

"No, I really have to find Nanao. She – she'll know what to do. She's at the Academy?"

I blinked down at my hands in surprise. They were trembling. How odd.

"Rangiku, you can't just burst into the Academy classes!"

"Why not? I did it plenty of times when I went there." I laughed shakily. "I'm sure they won't mind."

I started towards the door then turned back again, trembling hands running though my hair nervously. "It's their death day, today. Am I meant to tell him? Today? I mean—"

But I couldn't finish, because at the moment there was quite possibly the largest explosion of reiatsu I'd ever felt. So large in fact, that it made me stumble and catch my breath; Isane fell out of her chair.

"What _is_ that?" she whispered.

I closed my eyes and was nearly overwhelmed by the sheer _Kurosaki_ of the reiatsu from the west sector.

"It's…_Ichigo_," I replied, astonished. "But he's not meant to be back for a year yet." I concentrated harder and was just barely able to separate the reiatsu. "And he brought his sister along? And Isshin?" Shaking my head to clear it, I snapped into shinigami-mode. "Tenth's on active duty again this quarter, I have to go check it out." I went for the door again, then paused. "Don't…don't tell anyone?"

"Of course not!"

I flashed her a small smile. "Thanks."

xXx

I headed west and when I finally stumbled across the Kurosaki family, I was faced with chaos.

There were shinigami everywhere, shouting questions and being generally shocked but my eyes zeroed in on Ichigo.

I started to laugh. He was swearing his head off, reiatsu rising out of control and looking generally ridiculous.

"Oi, Deathberry!" I called. "What happened?"

He continued to yell incoherently. However, over the past year I'd had a great many experiences with incoherent yelling on the part of the Kuchiki elders, so I managed to decipher some of what he was saying.

"You're _dead?_" I yelled back at him, surprised into raising my voice. "How in the hell did you manage to die?"

Someone placed a hand on my shoulder and I jumped about a foot in the air.

"Yo, Ran-chan."

"Isshin!" I cried. "I thought I felt your reiatsu. What're you doing here?"

He scratched his head in a gesture eerily like his son (who was still throwing the mother of all tantrums. Geez. I mean _I'd_ just had huge news dropped on me, but you didn't see stomping around the place screaming. Well, yet). "Eh. From what I managed to get out of the brat, when Yuzu picked him up from the airport they got it by one of them drunk drivers. I opened the Senkaimon for 'em so they didn't forget everything and here we are.

I stared. "Kurosaki Ichigo. Taken out in a _car _crash?"

He laughed that big rolling chuckle that he and Shunsui had worked on for weeks back in the day. It brought a soft smile to my face, reminding me of the good old times.

Before the war.

"Right then. Can you get him to suppress his reiatsu a bit? It's messing with the buildings."

Isshin blinked at me. "That's not him. Well, some of it, but the rest's coming from out west."

I stared again. "Oh, _shit_." It wasn't often I swore, but this definitely warranted it.

"Eh?"

"You've stirred up a bloody _echo!_"

He looked serious for one of the few times in his life. "You're joking."

I pointed out west, where the huge spike of reiatsu was coming from. "Feel that? That's _Zaraki Kenpachi _power out there. And I'm on active duty." I shook my head, preparing to flash-step away. "You'd better buy me a heap of sake for this, old man."

The thought flashed through my mind that I was pregnant and that one was meant to stay far, far away from sake when one was in such a condition, but I brushed it away. No time for personal thoughts, an echo of this power was something that needed to be concentrated on.

"Don't call me old man!" he yelled. I smirked at him and tried to edge my way closer to Ichigo. Someone needed to knock him out.

"Yare, yare, what's all this noise?"

I glanced back at Shunsui who had appeared from nowhere.

"Ichigo's dead."

He grinned. "This is a cause for celebration! Sake all 'round!"

"Nanao'll kill you," I warned.

Shunsui winked at me. "Ah, that's the genius of the plan, my dear Ran-chan. My lovely Nanao-chan has taken over the kidō classes in the Academy for the day."

"She'll know anyway. She always does. Do me a favour though, and I won't be the one to tell her."

He raised his hat speculatively. "Hmm?"

"Goget the sōtaichō, would you? Someone needs to get Ichigo under control and I have to go check out the echo that kicked up."

"Wouldn't Rukia-chan be better?"

I rolled my eyes. "We'll do both then. I'll go back and get Rukia, you find the sōtaichō."

"And you don't tell Nanao-chan."

"And I don't tell Nanao-chan," I agreed. Shaking my head, I disappeared with him just as Yuzu came into view, cautiously making her way towards her brother.

We really needed to get Ichigo under control. Echoes were volatile things, especially considering how compatible this one seemed to be with the Kurosaki reiatsu. I headed towards Thirteenth in the hope of finding Rukia there. If nothing else I could tell my Captain and Ukitake about what had happened.

The conversation was fairly amusing when I got there. I dropped it on them all at once, thinking I deserved a good laugh considering my own shocking revelations. I messed it up for a bit there and nearly had Tōshirō thinking Karin had come back from the dead, but smoothed that over by asking after Rukia (who then flash-stepped through the court-yard in a general westerly direction, swearing her head off). Finally I told the two of them about the echo (which appeared to be somewhere out in district _Eighty_) and flash-stepped off to find it.

District Eighty was forever and a half away from Thirteenth, so I dredged up every bit of information I knew about echoes to keep myself occupied.

And echo occurred whenever someone with a large amount of reiatsu (such as Ichigo) let it out of control. If there was a person with a certain amount of suppressed reiatsu that was similar to the released reiatsu, it created a mirror effect – the suppressed reiatsu would be released and out of control and as one grew, so did the other. Ichigo had enough brute strength to beat his spirit power back into place, but chances were the poor sod who was the echo didn't.

Which was where I came in. At least that was the plan – I had to _find _the echo first. I was almost at the outskirts of district Eighty when I finally stumbled across it.

On the edge of a forest sat a large house. The area it was in was clean, too clean for district Eighty – there was no blood in the steam that ran past it, no limbs strewn on the grass outside. In fact, it looked like it had been transplanted straight from the general housing district in the Seireitei.

I looked on as a large group of children were gently herded out of the front door, which was being guarded by two evil looking men – neither of whom made the slightest movement to kill, main or even scrape the elbow of the midgets.

_Oh hell. I'm having a midget. I'm going to be a _mother

Grimly I tossed that thought aside and flash-stepped to the front door. It was slightly harder to breathe through the reiatsu that clogged the air, but I was a vice-captain who had fought a war next to some of the most powerful shinigami ever. I wasn't about to faint.

Immediately the two men came to life, ribbing cheap swords from their belts. I had them disarmed in seconds and considered knocking them out before thinking again. It never hurt to make friends.

I flashed them one of my best grins. "Mind letting me in, boys?"

"You're a shinigami," one of them said slowly. I got the feeling they weren't all that smart.

"Yes," I replied patiently. The echo was in this house, I could feel it, although it seemed to be decreasing in power a bit.

"You're not going to hurt Kurosaki-sama, are you?" the other one asked suspiciously.

For a split second, everything stopped. Then I blinked and the spell was broken. "Kuro – Kuro_saki_-sama?"

"You're not going to hurt her?" the second one persisted. They probably knew they couldn't stop me if I wanted to get in, but it looked like they were going to stay there anyway.

The door opened to reveal a woman with familiar warm brown eyes and hair a few shades darker than mine. Dimly, I remembered a poster hanging on the wall of the Kurosaki Clinic.

"Masaki?" I whispered. "Kurosaki _Masaki?_"

The woman smiled gently and _I had seen it before_. It was Ichigo's smile, his real smile. Yuzu's smile and once upon a time, Karin's smile.

"You must be Matsumoto Rangiku." Her voice immediately put me at ease despite myself. "Isshin told me about you a long time ago," she said, apparently reading my mind. "Now, come in, come in. I've wanted to meet you for the longest time, but I've not been able to leave the children here."

I glanced back at the large cluster of children, feeling stupefied. A flash of white caught my eyes and a boy who looked about two (and therefore was probably about eight) stared silently back at me with dark, deep eyes. I was struck with an odd sense of déjà vu but couldn't for the life of me place what it meant.

"I'm here to investigate the echo," I told her.

"I know," Masaki (could I call her Masaki? Damn, my brain was so fried). "She's in here."

I stepped inside hesitantly, one hand resting on Haineko's hilt. This whole _day_ was surreal. I wouldn't put it past the world to throw something else in here.

As the woman led me down the hall, I heard the faint sounds of someone in pain growing louder.

"She's remembering," Masaki said softly, stopping outside one of the fusuma.

"Who is?"

She slid the door open and gestured for me to enter. The pained cries came to a sudden stop. I put one foot in the door and froze.

"You – you're—"

The other woman in the room stared back at me. She was wearing a pair of short-shorts and a singlet, much as she had been the last time I saw her. There was a sword slung over her shoulder – _zanpakutō_, Haineko whispered – and she fiddled with the end of a ragged braid as her dark eyes bored into me.

"Kurosaki Karin," she said quietly, and she looked almost as surprised as I felt when she said it.

xXx

_**Out of character! **_**Out of character!**

_Lol, not this, but damn, some of the Rangiku fics I've been finding lately are so OOC that I just want to spork out the writers brains. SHE'S NOT A SLUT._

_Anyway, we're on the downward slope here. I think I'll have this story all wrapped up at about chapter 23 or a one chapter margin around that number. I'm getting really excited, because I've never finished anything this long and _no one_ knows the ending. Not even Stef and Anje, who have suffered through much of my angsting and bitching about my word count, or Namimakura who is writing _The Stage: Byakuya Style.

_So basically, I'm glad I didn't give Ran and Byakuya a definite ending in L&F, because I'm sure as hell it wouldn't have been the ending they're going to get now._


	21. Chapter 21

_Darkangel1910's drabble is up, under the title _Pride and Paperwork _Much thanks to snowzapped and Philyra for help with Rangiku's bankai, I'll get your drabbles out to you as soon as possible and SoraxNamine, I'm working on yours! Promise…_

_In other news! There are definitely only __**three chapters **__left of The Stage, in addition to a bonus chapter with omake and various notices about the L&F series and a competition I'm hosting._

_Goand read The Stage: Byakuya Style by Namimakura! It's fantastic! I think I'm in love…lol_

_My god, I want to smash my head against the wall. I think I've officially lost my faith in humanity. I know how hard it can be to be an aspiring wrtiter (considering I am one) but really – learn to spell. And also, WHY ARE YOU YELLING AT ME? Some of these summaries, sheesh. _

_And I shudder in fear. Valentine's Day is coming. You know what that means for ffn…_

xXx

Needless to say, I'd been dumbstruck to see Karin standing before me out of the blue like that; unfortunately, so had she. In other words, Kurosaki Karin remembered her name, and nothing else. She hadn't even recognised Masaki, although the sight of her mother had sent her into a fit of remembrance.

The first thing I'd done was send a hell butterfly to Momo because really, I wasn't equipped to deal with this situation and Nanao was busy. Unfortunately, Momo argued that I _was_ capable of handling it and left me, a pregnant woman (although she didn't know that) on my own with a crazy girl and a worried mother in favour of dealing with said crazy girl's sister.

I mean sure, Yuzu just died, but really.

"Isane! Isane-chan, where are you?" I pounded through the Fourth Division, searching for my friend. "Isa—"

"Rangiku?"

"Eh!" I nearly fell out of my uniform in surprise at the other vice-captain's voice. I turned around and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Isane-chan, what do you know about RMR?"

"Random Memory Regeneration? Nothing, why?"

"Good, because I need your – nothing? Isane, you're a healer, how can you know nothing about it?"

She blinked at me. "Could you talk a little slower, Rangiku? You're making it hard for me to understand. And you need to calm down, stress isn't good for the baby."

I frowned. "Baby? What ba – oh, right, my baby." I caught the beginnings of a frown on Isane's face and made a concentrated effort to draw in a few deep breaths. Apparently Unohana's scariness was contagious. "I – let's not talk about that right now, yeah? The point is, Kurosaki Ichigo died, his reiatsu kicked up a huge echo out in west Rukongai, and that echo just so happened to be Kurosaki _Karin_ who is currently writhing in pain because…well, I don't _know_ why she's writhing in pain. Hence the reason I'm here."

Rationality was returning, albeit slowly. I took a few more deep breaths and looked expectantly at Isane.

Who was frowning. Not a good sign. "Kurosaki Karin…?" She shook her head. "Rangiku, I really don't know anything about RMR. It's not my field of study, but I know for a fact that Unohana-taichō—"

"Yes?"

I nearly jumped out of my skin – and my shirt – for the second time as Unohana rounded the corner.

This was just not my day.

"Matsumoto-fukutaichō." The Captain smiled gently at me. "How are you? You were investigating the echo, were you not?"

I don't know how she did it, but being around Unohana turned the panic switch to 'off'. I smiled gratefully at her and asked for her help, which she readily provided. Thankfully her zanpakutō was able to transport us to district eighty. We probably garnered more than a few odd looks, but I'd learnt over the years that nothing stands between Unohana Retsu and a patient.

I introduced Masaki and Unohana, in the process realising that I had two very powerful, very _scary_ ladies in front of me. Masaki possessed the same quietly _massive_ reiatsu as Unohana and it was more than a little unnerving. Although, she didn't appear to have that same terrifying smile as Unohana, thankfully – in fact, she reminded me more than a little of Karin herself, although more mature and less flighty.

"Matsumoto-fukutaichō?"

"Hmm?" I jerked my head up from where I'd been trying to see my stomach past my boobs. I couldn't see it, but my hands told me it _was_ rounder, damn it. "Yes, Unohana-taichō?"

"Would you mind staying outside for the time being? It is best if Karin-san isn't disturbed by anyone but a healer for the time being."

"Of course, Unohana-taichō."

Apparently Masaki was a healer, as the two women went inside and left me alone with a large group of children.

Don't get me wrong, I love children, and they tend to love me back but the prospect of having one of my own—

Oh, who was I kidding? They were all darlings and I didn't have any candy on me. I was a horrible person.

There were seven of them, and unlike any children I'd ever seen this far out in the Rukongai. For a start, they were _smiling_. The clothes they were wearing looked worn, but well made and there wasn't a bruise or scrap on them – well, except on the knees of a few, but any child would have those.

I started to walk over to them. The children looked from me to the men watching them and back to me again. They were curious, I could tell, but wary. Strange – most children out this far were only the latter, and kept to themselves.

Finally, one of the men nodded grudgingly and smiles spread like wildfire over the little faces – I was something new, a shinigami with stories to tell and hair to play with and a bosom to snuggle to.

"Hold on, hold on!" I laughed, fending them off as they started to clamber over me. "First off, I'm Matsumoto Rangiku. What are you called?"

My eyes fell on the small white-haired boy who'd given me such an odd feeling before. He was silently rolling a small soccer ball between his feet, dark gaze following it as he studiously ignored me.

A tug on my sleeve. I looked down into wild blonde hair and electric blue eyes. "Yuki don't speak all that much, but my name's Hoshi." The girl drew herself up proudly. "I don't got a last name, me. Oi, you lot! Go make a line, like them shinigami do when they wanna be special. Yeah, that's it." Hoshi took my hand and led me along the hastily formed line. "This here's Kyoko, an' that's her lil' brother Jiro. Satoshi 'n Sakura are twins and this one's Fish-boy."

I blinked. "Fish-boy?"

"Yeah, weird innit? But he won't let us call 'im nothin' else, so he's Fish-boy."

Fish-boy nodded, very seriously, so I gave him an equally solemn nod back.

"Anyways, Fish-boy 'n Yuki 'n me're the only ones who get hungry, but I ain't gonna be a shinigami. Ain't much point when Yuki 'n Fish-boy can put away double the food I do an' both of them're half my size."

I looked over at Yuki, obviously the youngest child there. He was holding a worm between thumb and forefinger, staring at it interestedly. Thankfully, one of the men knocked it out of his hand before he put it in his mouth. The toddler frowned, then caught sight of his soccer ball again and wandered back over to it.

"What are you going to do then, if you're not going to be a shinigami?" I asked Hoshi.

She jabbed a thumb at her chest, proud as any Kuchiki. "I'ma be one of them firework special – special – one of them firework people! Ya know, like them Shiba's out the other side. An' one day, I'm gonna shoot monsters into the Sei – rei – tei just like that crazy lady did. Just to see the look on them shinigami's faces!" She laughed.

I laughed with her, dropping to the ground as the rest of the children clamoured to tell me what _they_ were going to be when they grew up.

And that was the strangest thing. _When_ they grew up, not if. There was hope in these children, something you almost never found this far out in the Rukongai.

"Matsumoto-fukutaichō?"

I managed to not jump this time as Unohana's voice drifted towards me. I stood immediately, scooping Haineko up and sheathing her in one smooth motion.

And damn, but that screwed with my head, seeing Karin after eight years and with a _zanpakutō_. One calloused hand rested lightly on its hilt, ready to draw.

"Yes, Unohana-taichō?"

"Would you be agreeable to helping Karin-san recuperate? I can have one of my subordinates look after her if necessary, but if your fukutaichō duties do not interfere, I think it would be best if someone she knew could assist."

My eyebrows shot up and I looked at Karin, whose hand had fallen from her zanpakutō. "You remember me?"

She grinned and eight years fell away. "Bits and pieces." She nodded at my chest. "Be a bit hard to forget those."

"Aw, Karin-chan, I'm touched!"

She backed away hurriedly. "Uh-uh, no hugs. I've got an image to maintain."

"Nee-san, Yuki wants you!" Hoshi called.

Nee-san was apparently Karin, as her head jerked over to the kids where Yuki was staring forlornly at the woman, stretched towards her.

"Up," he demanded. A gentle smile crossed Karin's face and she swung the small boy up into her arms. He pointed. "Ball."

Karin laughed. "How about a game of soccer then, brats?"

So much for that image.

"Of course I'll help out."

xXx

Pure exhaustion. I felt like I'd been run over by a truck. Big truck, one of those eighteen-wheeler things. Days with so many surprises should be declared _illegal_.

The Kurosaki family had been informed. Tōshirō had been thoroughly confused (no way in hell was I letting him find out about Karin until she remembered him. I wouldn't put him through that sort of pain) and Nanao had _not_ been found. Probably the reason I was feeling so stressed out.

And I was nine weeks pregnant.

"So you know, then."

"For crying out loud, when are people going to stop doing that to me!" I cried, jumping about a foot in the air as I entered the grounds to the Kuchiki Mansion. Even after a year, I could bring myself to call it home (although I'd certainly tried). "Know what, Chiaki-sama?"

"That you're pregnant." The cackle was oddly absent.

I stared. "How do _you _know?"

Chiaki tutted, swatting me over the head. "Anyone with half a brain could figure it out, girl. That's why the other council members don't know yet."

"Just say what you want to say, would you? I haven't had the best day today."

She spread her hands. "Welcome to the Kuchiki clan."

I blinked. "_What?_"

It was the first time I'd ever seen her look surprised. "Well, you'll be getting married, won't you?"

I started to laugh. "No, of course not." I caught myself. "At least…not yet. I don't know, maybe? But we're not going to get married just because I'm pregnant." I laughed again.

She gave me a pitying look. "You'll see."

"No, Chiaki-sama, I think you will. The family doesn't control Byakuya anymore, you know that."

"This has nothing to do with the family, girl. This is about Byakuya and how he grew up and the extent to which you can change a man."

I rolled my eyes. "It's a Tuesday, so I have to go upstairs and get the maid out of our bed. It's also the anniversary of Renji's death, so I have to get ready to visit his grave. If you'll excuse me?"

I stalked off without waiting for permission.

xXx

I leaned against the doorframe and looked at the terrified maid.

"What would you do if I were to turn around and leave you here?" I asked, crossing my arms.

A pause. "S-stay, Matsumoto-sama. Th-those are my orders."

I sighed, pushing myself out of the doorway and dropped myself on the bed.

"Don't call me that. Makes me feel old."

It was still too big, but it wasn't so bad when Byakuya was in it with me.

"That's a nice yukata," I commented. "They make you walk through the halls in that?" It was nearly see-through and just brushed her thighs.

She was shaking, probably a mix of fear and cold.

"Oh, you must be new," I realised. "Never mind then. Here—" I stood again and fetched a bathrobe from my wardrobe. "I'd give you some clothes, but they're all at my house. I only keep my uniforms here, so this'll have to do for now."

"I have to stay," she whispered. "Those are my orders."

"And I'm giving you new ones," I said, not unkindly. "You won't be punished if you leave."

She licked her lips nervously, and then between one moment and the next she'd grabbed the robe and scuttled out of the room.

I sighed, flopping onto the bed with my hands on my stomach. I wasn't looking forward to the forth-coming conversation.

The fusuma slid open near-silently and Byakuya stepped inside wearily. Of course, he was usually home before me on Tuesdays, so he had to deal with the maid. I watched the tension drain from his form as realised it was me lying on the bed.

"Kurosaki Ichigo is dead," he murmured.

"Hello to you too," I replied dryly, pushing myself up onto my elbow. "And I know. He doesn't seem happy about it."

"Yamamoto-sōtaichō wishes for him to be taichō of the Seventh Division."

"And he wants Fifth. Well, fair enough, I say. After all, it was Aizen our Deathberry killed, not Komomura." I tried to maintain an air of nonchalance as Byakuya unwound the scarf (I'd insisted he wear it a long time ago; that swirly thing didn't look anywhere near as dramatic without it) and shrugged off his Captain's haori. "Plus, Momo needs all the help she can get."

"Hinamori-fukutaichō is more than capable of handling the Fifth Division. The Seventh, however—"

"Is nose-diving, I know. But we have plenty of other taichō-level shinigami – I can name three off the top of my head. The sōtaichō is just too proud to ask them back."

"Pride does have its place," Byakuya murmured.

"Pride needs to take a step back when it's hurting people," I replied. My hands were still on my stomach.

Byakuya dropped a kiss on my forehead. It was a far cry from how he would have reacted four years ago.

"I'm pregnant," I blurted.

_What? No! That's not how you were supposed to do it! _I shot up in surprise at my own words.

He…wasn't moving. I wasn't even sure if he was breathing.

"Byakuya?" I asked softly. "Byakuya, are you—"

"You…are pregnant," he said, still not moving, staring at a place somewhere above my head.

"I – yes." I was pregnant.

I was _pregnant._

It all caught up to me. Throughout the day, there had been so many surprises that I hadn't been able to even think about it. But, I was. I was pregnant.

I felt like crying. It took a few seconds for it to sink in that I was _happy_.

"Yes," I said again, smiling softly. "I'm pregnant."

Byakuya moved. He started pacing. It appeared he wasn't quite as happy.

"Hey, don't do that. Come and sit down and we'll talk about it. I wonder if it's going to be a boy or a girl." I looked down at my stomach. Well, tried to at least.

Byakuya didn't appear to be listening to me. He continued pacing.

"Oi!" I laughed. "What're you—"

"We need to get married."

I froze, mouth still open

_This has nothing to do with the family, girl. This is about Byakuya and how he grew up and the extent to which you can change a man._

I shook my head, breaking the spell. "No. No we don't."

He stopped pacing and frowned at me. "Yes, we do. Honour requires it of us."

"_Honour?_" I frowned, confused. "What does marriage have to do with _honour?_ What about love?"

He blinked, taken aback. "I love you. I assume you love me."

I raised my eyebrows. "You _assume?_ After all this time you don't know on your own?"

Silence. I was started to get angry.

"Right. So we love each other. Well, I _assume_ that we love each other. Is that why you asked me to – hold the cart, you didn't even ask! You just _assumed_." I thre the word back at him.

More silence. He was putting up with me.

'You already think I'm going to say yes, don't you?" I asked softly.

"What reason have you to say no?"

"I..." Actually, fair point. I thought about it, then decided I'd address that issue later. There was something for me to be angry about here, whether he saw it or not. "What if I did say no?"

Sheer bafflement. He really had no idea where I was coming from. "You are not going to terminate the child."

It wasn't a question. How dare he? How _dare_ he?

I licked my lips, trying to rein in the anger. I was Matsumoto Rangiku, and I didn't scream.

The room was growing. The door was getting further away, but the handle was too high for me to reach.

"Would you stay with me if I kept the child. And didn't marry you." They weren't questions. I already knew the answers.

I watched it hit him. I watched that idea grab a hold of his brain and sink in. He hadn't even thought of itt. I watched him wrestle with it for a little longer, then started the long trek to the door.

I could still jump pretty high.

His hand caught my wrist. "Rangiku—"

I shook him off. "I'm leaving. Don't follow me."

xXx

_I think it moved to fast. I hope it didn't._

_I hate the word pregnant like I hate the name George. Unless I concentrate hard, I can't spell either right on the first go._

_Okay, please tell me I'm not the only writer out there who didn't know that there was more than one type of comma, both of which are freaking correct._

_Like, I just put them where I would pause while speaking. Isn't that what they're for?_

_I would like to add that for someone who got 85 percent and therefore an 'A' on her English Cambridge exam (yes, I'm bragging), I have a shocking lack of knowledge on how the English language works. I like words. I like stringing words together. On the odd occasion I'll shove a comma or full-stop in there. A few years ago I started adding the hyphens and about six months ago I discovered the semi-colon. The apostrophe, it appears in some places, is beyond me._


	22. Chapter 22

_**NEZT CHAPTER WILL NOT BE THE LAST. REPEAT. CHAPTER TWENTY THREE WILL NOT BE THE LAST CHAPTER.**_

_I couldn't get everything into this chapter. Hopefully 23 will be up sometime tomorrow if I get my arse into gear._

_Late update. School. Angst. Drama classes. Therapy. I have reasons (good ones!) for once._

_Uh, I'm going through a lot of personal angst at the moment. I probably wouldn't mention it, but as it might affect the story I thought I'd better just let you know because my writing style changes when I'm feeling…uh, angsty I guess. Lol. So I'll try to stop the run-on sentences and repetition of words, but I might miss some. If something looks a bit off, just drop me a note to say, k?_

_So, uh. Interim chapter, meet readers. Readers, meet interim chapter and please to be not killing me, yus?_

xXx

So angry. I was _so angry,_ and I wasn't sure why.

Well. I mean, I knew why I was angry, but I didn't know why I was so _irrationally_ angry. You'd think after four years I'd be used to Byakuya disappointing me.

I didn't want to be used to that though. Maybe that was the problem. Not the fact that he'd disappointed me but rather that I'd expected him to. In the deepest part of me, I'd known his reaction wasn't going to be favourable.

Che. Favourable. After four years, I've even started to talk like him. Gin would be horrified.

No, he'd laugh at me. Say I was touched in the head for getting involved in nobility at all, let alone a _Kuchiki._

Let alone _that_ Kuchiki.

I shook my head and let out a frustrated noise. I was long gone from the Mansion now, heading who knew where. Away from _him_, that was where. Between one breath and the next, I slid into flash-steps, needing to run out some of the overpowering emotion. Under the anger swam a loss I wasn't ready to deal with.

Good would have…Gin would have looked after me. Gin always looked after me. Of course, most of me argued that I was the vice-captain of the Tenth Division and a strong woman besides and didn't _need_ looking after. But there was still a tiny part that wanted someone else to take over. I'd never lost that little girl who Gin had rescued. I'd just sort of buried her.

I don't know how long I ran for, but I ended up in the familiar outskirts of district eighty. In fact, I nearly skidded straight into the apple tree, grabbing a hold of Shinsō's to steady myself.

My eyes stung at the sight of that familiar sword and I kicked the tree before thumping against it and sliding to the ground.

Forearms on knees, head on forearms, breath in and try not to cry.

"_Oi."_

_A poke to my side._

"_Why aren' ya speakin', Ran-chan?"_

_I pointed at my chest. "Me?"_

_The boy – Gin – sighed, shaking his head. "Nah, the _other_ Ran-chan."_

_My voice was all croaky and my throat was real sore. He'd given me food, sure, but nothing to drink. _

_I wondered what he wanted from me._

"_Hurts," I said quiet-like. If I wasn't too loud, it hurt less._

_He frowned, looking pretty weird with his eyes still closed. "Y' had much t' drink lately?"_

_I shook my head. _

"_Damn. Well, we ain't got nothin' t' drink at th' shack, but I bet an apple'd go down a treat, yeah? Better'n th' dried stuff I gave ya anyways."_

"_We?" It was meant to come out as why, but my lips didn't want to make the word._

_The scowl turned like magic into a grin. "You'n me, Ran-chan! Who else did ya think I were talkin' abou'?"_

It was times like this when I missed him. Deeply, terribly, always, forever.

_Yer bein' stupid, Ran-chan…_

"Shut up," I whispered. "You never fell in love. Shut up."

I hated this part of me. The part that fell apart because of Byakuya or Gin or whatever. The part of me that was _afraid._ My head lolled towards my left shoulder and I relished the lack of feeling there.

Byakuya almost never touched my left shoulder, not since that first time.

I couldn't do this. Not here, not by myself. I'd learnt that much at least since the 'intervention' four years ago. If you were going to fall apart, do it with someone. It helped you stop feeling so alone.

I passed Renji's grave on the way back to the Seireitei and murmured a quick apology and a partial explanation.

"No pink and white yukata for you this year, Renji. Your taichō's an arsehole."

The image I got in return was so powerful I nearly fell over.

_I coulda told ya that._

I swore as the tears that had threatened me back in district eighty started to fall. I wasn't even sure exactly what it _was_ that had upset me. So many things, too many things.

It wasn't until I slammed the door to the office open that I realised where I'd been heading.

Tōshirō jerked awake, glare at the ready. My face must have been red and blotchy or something, because it fell from his face as soon as he recognised me.

"R-Rangiku?" he stuttered. "Are you—"

I scrubbed at my face, not even sure what I was going to ask him. I tried frantically to keep all thoughts of Byakuya at the back of my mind but it was like trying to push back I tsunami with my bare hands.

Impossible.

"Taichō, is my room in the barracks still free?" I asked softly. Softly, because if I raised my voice any further it'd probably break.

I was leaving him. Byakuya. I hadn't even realised I'd made the decision until the words came out.

Tōshirō frowned. "Of course it is Rangiku, but—"

"No buts, taichō!" See what I mean? I looked at my feet, taking a moment to gather myself. _I am Matsumoto Rangiku, and Matsumoto Rangiku does not scream._ Slowly, I pulled a Kuchiki, rearranging my face and when I looked back up at my Captain, my eyes were carefully blanked. "I'm moving out of the Kuchiki Mansion. Right now. I can't – I can't take it anymore."

Thoughts, feeling, images were bombarding me, slamming against the blank façade I'd picked up from Byakuya over the last four years. Whispers, snickers, rumours. The maid in the bed, _every single week_. Chiaki's face, lips moving slowly, warning me about plots against my life, poison, _intrigue_.

I wasn't cut out for that life. Maybe I could be, if I stayed, but I had someone else to think about now.

"Can't take what, Rangiku?" His frown had deepened, as if he was trying to reason his way through what I was saying.

I shoved my hair back off my face, out of my eyes and sighed.

I knew that was becoming a habit. Probably too late to get rid of it now.

"Do I look like and object to you, taichō?" I kept my voice small. "Am I just a thing?"

That was it. _That_ was what it was! Despite the many, many jokes I'd about my status as an object in the eyes of so many men, I'd always hated it. Loathed it, despised it – not the men themselves because I made an effort not to hate people, but that attitude.

I am not a thing. I'm not.

Tōshirō made that face that meant he was clenching his fists. "Did he say that to you?"

Despite myself a smile crossed my lips. It was mocking and nasty and generally unpleasant, but it broke through the blank face. I'd never been any good at that face anyway. "What, are you going to call him out, taichō? Defend my dubious honour?"

Nanao have tried to talk me out of my mood – and probably would have succeeded too. Momo would have berated me for saying such things about myself.

Tōshirō blushed, but his gaze was steady, holding mine. "If you asked me to."

I couldn't help it. My breath hitched, hand flying somewhere near my throat (why my throat, I don't know) and the smile softened a little. I wasn't even aware that I'd moved, but suddenly I was behind his desk, holding onto him for dear life.

Awkwardly, he reached up and patted me on the back. That proved to be my undoing.

My poor Captain – he'd never been any good at handling his own emotion and then I came along and dumped mine on him. The tears swarmed me and I collapsed, sobbing, into his shoulder. He took it easily, standing up and taking me with him, leading me over to the small couch in the office.

"That may be the most meaningful thing anyone's ever offered to do for me, taichō," I murmured when I was sure the words would come out coherently.

He frowned. "What exactly happened? Was it about—"

I laughed, hating how bitter it sounded. "Oh, it doesn't matter what it was about, taichō. The fact of the matter is that I told him not to follow me and he didn't."

Because that's what our relationship had been about. And in my mind, relationships weren't supposed to be about following.

Partners were meant to walk side by side. No matter how hard we tried, Byakuya and I never had that.

xXx

"I'm pregnant."

For the first time in my life I had the dubious pleasure of watching Ise Nanao trip over her own feet. She gripped my arm to steady herself and didn't let go, gray eyes wide.

"I'm not done," I said dryly. "Byakuya didn't take it well. I, uh…I've left him."

It was hard, so hard to say it without breaking down. I wasn't happy with that, with the way I'd come to need Byakuya.

That was something I'd always cautioned those girls against s they sobbed into my bosom. Never need your lover. Never make them the be all and end all of your life.

Guess I was just bad at taking my own advice. Well. I wasn't about to curl up and die, but I did feel vaguely as if a part of my soul had been ripped out.

"How did he take that?" my friend asked quietly.

"No idea," I breezed. I would have started walking again too, only Nanao still had a death's grip on my arm.

"Rangiku."

"Nanao."

"_Rangiku._"

"_Nanao._" I shook her arm off and started to walk. I expected her to fall into step with me again, but she didn't.

"Why do you come to me for help, Rangiku, if you're just going to walk away?"

"I didn't say I came to you for help," I replied tightly.

"You didn't have to."

We stared at each other for a bit. Like my relationship with Tōshirō was made up of hugs, my relationship with Nanao was made up of various looks. This one nearly broke me.

"I really don't know," I told her, finally tearing my eyes away.

"What makes you think that this won't be like all of the other times you left him?"

"I only did that once!"

Another look.

"Well it's true," I muttered.

"Maybe that's just what your relationship is like, Rangiku. In fact, I'm pretty sure you thrive on things like this."

I looked at the ground. "Not like this, Nanao."

Silence.

"What changed, then?" Her voice was gentle for once.

"I'm _pregnant_. Remember?"

A pause. "Oh."

"Yeah."

She took her glasses off and looked me in the eye. "Why don't you tell me the whole story?"

xXx

I threw myself into my work after that conversation with Nanao, mindful of my pregnancy but not overly cautious. While it was rare in the Soul Society for a girl to get knocked up, that didn't change the fact that it was a perfectly natural process that I shouldn't worry about at all.

Or so Unohana told me. In truth, I was scared witless.

The benefit of concentrating on work was that I didn't have time to worry about the state of my relationship with Byakuya. The downside was doing work.

It was lonely, living by myself in the barracks again after a year of waking up with another body next to me, but I had enough going on to distract myself when I lingered on that thought for too long.

Mornings I spent doing Division work – not many things more distracting than cleaning up after the many, many mistakes the new recruits made, again and again and again. Tōshirō appreciated it as well, and it was nice to be appreciated. He seemed a bit bewildered by the whole situation, which I compounded by dropping happy hints about Karin. Mostly to cheer myself up when seeing the look on his face, but also because I didn't want him passing out from shock or anything when we did finally let him in on the secret.

Afternoons belonged to Karin and the Kurosaki family. Almost immediately after I told Nanao the sordid details of my dealings with Byakuya, Ichigo had hunted me down and swept me into a bone-crushing hug. I'd almost squeaked something about being pregnant at him before realising that I didn't want _him_ fainting either.

Karin, however, hadn't dealt well with meeting Ichigo and Yuzu and Rukia. They'd triggered so many memories that she'd actually had a seizure, so all visits had been restricted until further notice. I brought candy for the kids and let them climb over me while I prompted Karin on what I knew of her old life, recording the conversations and listening to them again in the office, trying to detect changes, new memories, everything Unohana had told me to look out for.

It was about two weeks after The Day (it really did deserve capitalisation) that I saw Byakuya again.

He'd been steadfastly ignoring me, even having my things sent back to me via Kuchiki servants. It suited me well enough, seeing as I didn't even want to think about him, let alone see or speak to him.

I'd been listening to the audio from the day before, refreshing my memory before I headed out again when the door opened. I didn't bother looking up, figuring that Tōshirō would yell or something if he needed me. After a few minutes, however, I realised that the soft talking in the background had stopped and that there was, in fact, no noise outside of my headphones.

I looked up, and there he was. My reactions was so instantaneous I didn't even think on it, just blinked and there I was, hand knotted in his hair and yanking his head back.

There were so many emotions in his eyes I nearly let go in shock.

Anger, confusion, shock, stubbornness…

Love.

I _hated _that, because I just knew my eyes said the same damn things.

I wasn't ready to let go, and most of me was hoping like hell that he was here to fix this.

"Release me."

So he was nervous too.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, politely enough despite the white-knuckled grip I had on his hair.

"Release me. My business here is not with you."

I glared, angry at him for lying and he flinched. "If it's Division business you're here on, I'll find out anyway."

"I had no intention of keeping this from you. I am merely stating that I'm not here for you, so if you would be so kind as to release me…"

"Rangiku," Tōshirō said softly. "Let him go."

I turned to face him so quickly my neck cracked. "Taichō?"

"Let me hear what he has to say."

I had to concentrate carefully on getting each finger to uncurl, but eventually my hands dropped limply to my sides. "Fine."

Tōshirō turned back to Byakuya. "So? Your fukutaichō."

They were talking about Rikichi? Why were they talking about Rikichi?

"Yes. He is powerful, somewhat competent at paperwork and works well with people—"

"Are you trying to sell him to us, _Kuchiki-taichō?_" I asked, emphasizing his title and enjoying the faint wince I received.

He ignored that. "Most of the Seireitei is aware of your...problems, with your fukutaichō. I am suggesting—"

"No."

I stared at Byakuya. _This_ was his grand plan to get me back?

Compared to the last one, it sort of fell short.

He blinked, once, slowly. "If you would—"

"No. I'm not parting with Rangiku. Ever."

My Captain's words were so…final. My breath may or may not have caught in my throat a little at the obvious sincerity I could hear in his voice.

His sipped on the tea I'd brewed just before. "_I_ am suggesting, Kuchiki-taichō, that you keep your personal issues out of the office. Take it from someone who nearly destroyed his own Division." Tōshirō looked down at his folded fingers as my own fisted in Byakuya's haori. We needed to talk. "I'm also suggesting that you follow my fukutaichō outside and talk."

"Follow?" I could just imagine the way his eyebrows would have twitched.

I don't know what Byakuya saw in my Captain's face, but he did follow me. I resisted slamming the fusuma shut but just barely.

"That was quite possibly the single most idiotic plan I've ever heard," I told him. "Did one of the Elders think it up?"

"Come back."

"What, no please?" I hadn't meant for that to be quite so abrasive as it was. Apparently I was still angry.

"We are going to have a child together, Rangiku. Children need both parents—"

"I had neither."

Silence. He'd realised he'd said the wrong thing.

"We will wait to get married," he said quietly, closing his eyes as if it cost him great pain to say it. "Until you are ready—"

"There you go, _assuming_ I want to get married." That word seemed to be cropping up quite a bit in our conversations. He looked at me, as helpless as that face of his ever got and I sighed. "Look, I don't care if you're just having foot-in-mouth-syndrome lately or what." My voice hardened without my help. "But your views on the matter are pretty damn obvious, and until you understand that I won't marry you just because I'm pregnant, _Kuchiki-taichō_, I don't believe I have anything to say to you."

And with that I turned on my heel, sliding the fusuma open and stepping back into the office, head held high. I was a woman, I had my pride and my Captain looked like he'd seen a ghost.

Wait, what?

There were headphones in his hands. There were _headphones_ in his hands. Had I turned the audio off? I couldn't remember. _I couldn't remember!_ "Taichō—"

"Karin," he rasped. "Kurosaki Karin. She's here. She's the echo."

Hoo boy.

"Happy Birthday?"

xXx

_Blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhh._

_Yeah._


	23. Chapter 23

_**The Stage has just extended once again.**_

_This is a very confusin (to me at least) so I'ma do it in bullet points._

_-First, this was going to be one chapter._

_-Then I decided the first part would take too long and decided to make it a double update._

_-Then I figured that I had no idea when I would finish the next chapter, so I decided to make it a single update of the first part._

_-__**Finally**__, this chapter grew too long and had to be __**split into two.**_

_-__**Therefore**__, you get 23 and 24 now. _

_-25 will be the __**second-to last **__chapter._

_-meaning __**26 **__will be the __**last chapter.**_

'_Kay?_

_I know it's been a long wait. In order of importance, school's a bitch, Naruto's been distracting me, therapy got in the way and I disowned my father. All in all, it's been rather hectic lately._

_But yeah! I've been officially 'diagnosed' (I don't think I can actually use that word for this, but whatever) with social phobia and am now getting help in the form of CBT – cognitive behavioural therapy, which as I understand it, is meant to change my thought patterns so I can actually make phone calls and not beat myself up for saying something stupid that probably wasn't anyway._

_I'm not crazy. Promise. –shifty eyes– _

xXx

Crap. Crap. Crapcrapcrap.

"Hap – happy _birthday_."

"Uh…yeah…" Needless to say, my brain was elsewhere. Mentally, I scrambled around to get it back into working condition.

"Matsumoto Rangiku."

I winced, although I think he was a little too far gone to see it.

"Karin is here. In the Rukongai. You _knew_. You _lied_ to me."

"No!" I paused to think about that. "Well, at least, not exactly."

He laughed, incredulous. "Not _exactly_?"

Okay, he wasn't making things any easier by repeating every word I said.

"Taichō, please. She's barely suited for company at the moment. She can't even see Yuzu for longer than three minutes before having a fit." I knew as soon as the words left my mouth that it had been the wrong thing to say.

"_Fit?_"

I back-peddled, fast. "Memories, coming back. Taichō, you've seen an echo before, you know what it's like."

He slammed his fists down on my desk and I jumped a little. "Yuzu-san knows? Damn it, Rangiku, did you tell the whole Seireitei? Who else knows?"

Alright, that was _it!_ He was acting like I was some sort of villain here! "Well I'm sorry if I thought his family deserved to know before you, taichō!" I shook her head, gathering my thoughts. There had to be a better way to do this. "Look, taichō. She – she doesn't remember you."

By the look on his face, that hadn't been it.

_Shit, shit shit. Come on, make it better!_

I did what I did best in situations like these. Babbled my head off. "So, uh, I told Momo as soon as I found out because I was so shocked and she let Yuzu know once the girl got over the being, well, dead and Ichigo knows and I had no free time to hunt down Isshin to tell him about Masaki so I enlisted Shunsui's help and I also needed to tell Isane because she's a healer, but she doesn't know all that much about mind-healing so she let Unohana-taichō know and—"

"Masaki?" Tōshirō interrupted. "Kurosaki Masaki? Isshin's—"

"Wife. Yes. She died years ago, saving Ichigo. We probably owe her our continuing existence if you think about it. She's an amazing woman, really." I slowed down a little, reassured by his somewhat calmer tone. "I'd say she's the only woman in district eighty without a sword who hasn't been raped. All the men respect—"

Tōshirō jerked, and I swore inwardly. Why did I have to get foot-in-mouth syndrome _today_ of all days? "Karin—"

"Has a sword," I told him quickly." Zanpakutō, actually."

I watched him think about that.

"Where is she?" he asked finally, voice raw.

"District eighty, with Masaki," I replied immediately. "She didn't know that Masaki was her mother until two weeks ago. Unohana-taichō thinks that the presence of her entire family here set her off. It was like…all the Kurosaki-reiatsu created one huge echo. Most echo's who start remembering their old lives, they don't get everything, but Karin's pretty much remembered it all. Except—"

"Except for me," he supplied bitterly, nearly breaking my heart in two.

What if she never remembered him? What would that do to my Captain?

"I don't understand how this happened, Rangiku," he continued, voice quiet. "There are no records of Karin receiving a soul burial, I checked again and again and again. So many times."

"I know," I said gently. "But that's the whole thing, taichō. Karin didn't have a soul burial performed on her." I cut him off before he even opened his mouth to protest. "You know it happens, sometimes. When there's nothing to hold a soul to the physical world." That was the way it happened with me. I didn't remember, of course, but I'd checked the records as soon as I'd become Isshin's vice, and there were none of me.

"But Karin had everything holding her to physical world," Tōshirō protested. "Rangiku, she was _murdered. _By her fiancé, of all people. Just as she got accepted into police training, her _dream _job. She had her whole life ahead of her." He looked down and muttered something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like 'Just as I'd meant her to.'

Oh, Tōshirō. My poor, self-sacrificing Captain.

"Pardon?"

He jumped, clearing his throat. "She had all of those things holding her back, Rangiku. Why would she come straight here?"

Oh, really. I knew my Captain was still a little naïve but this was ridiculous. I met his gaze sharply. "I can think of one thing."

Tōshirō looked back down at his hands. "Not me."

And then he – disappeared.

No, not _literally._ But it was like he'd returned to that withdrawn state he'd been in four years ago, and it scared the crap out of me. I wasn't going to let him fall back into that state of utter despair and hopeless hope.

"Taichō?" I touched his shoulder gently. Sometimes I'd been able to jerk him out of these flashback things by giving him something physical to hold onto. "Taichō?"

I sighed, and waited a little longer. Maybe he needed this time to gather his thoughts. Who was I to know what was best for him.

I thought about that. Then again, who the hell was _he_ to know that? He was the one who'd let himself drop out of sanity for four years! I shoved him in the shoulder. "Taichō? Taichō!"

He jerked suddenly and then started talking as if resuming a conversation. Probably it was a continuation of his thoughts, but it was still a little creepy.

"You know, I did go back. I kept my promise. But I went back and he'd killed her in a jealous rage. See, he found out about me. Turns out he wasn't so great after all."

It was like everything stopped for a split-second. Eight years since her death, and _that_ was how it had happened? He own _fiancé?_

What did he mean, found out? Had Tōshirō and Karin...? "T-Taichō? You mean…"

"I slept with Karin. We had sex. Fucked. Whatever."

I stared at him shocked at hearing him swear for the first time ever. He seemed…broken.

"We had a confirmed relationship with each other when she turned eighteen, but we were already there. I already l-loved her. I haven't stopped. I couldn't stop, ever, although Hell knows I've tried. You know how he found out, Rangiku?"

I shook my head numbly. "No. I…I didn't even know who killed her, taichō. You wouldn't tell anybody, and the Kurosaki's kept it close to their hearts. I thought it would be rude to ask."

"I asked Urahara for a gigai that would completely suppress my reiatsu – imitate a normal human body, so I could surprise Karin."

No. I could see where this was going and _no. _Not my Captain. He didn't deserve that. Not my Captain.

"The Seireitei isn't quite capable of that yet. He gave me one similar to Isshin's and…and…"

My hand flew to my mouth,. "No. Oh, taichō, no."

"Yes, Rangiku. When Karin died, she was pregnant with our child."

And then he was gone again.

The look on his face hadn't been gone so long that I couldn't remember what it meant. He was thinking about Karin's death and nothing would bring him out of it until he was read to come out of it. I'd once sat there and watched him for two days as he lost himself in his memories. Thankfully it hadn't lasted longer – if it had, I would have had to start force-feeding him, and I don't think either of us would have liked that much.

I sighed again, hands drifting to my stomach. It was a little rounder than it had been two weeks ago but still not noticeable while I had my clothes on. Already I was starting to get attached to the life growing inside of me. I couldn't imagine what it would be like if I lost it.

My poor Captain. It all made so much more sense now; not only had he lost the woman he loved, but his unborn child as well. No wonder he'd gone off the deep end.

Did Karin know? I thought of the way she handled the orphans, especially Yuki, and had to concede that she probably—

Oh. _Oh._

Yuki. Solemn with dark glittering eyes and a delicate face surrounded by a shock of white hair.

How had I not seen it before?

"I need to see her."

"Eh?" Tōshirō's voice knocked me out of my shocked silence. Quickly I grabbed at my scrambled thoughts and shook them into some semblance of order. "But Unohana-taichō said that you shouldn't go until she remembers you."

Maybe I was making another mistake, not telling him. But I didn't know for sure, and I wouldn't get his hopes up only to tear them down. I _wouldn't_.

"_Unohana_ knows?"

Did he ever listen to me?

"I did tell you. Isane didn't know what to do, so she told Unohana-taichō"

"Never mind." His reminiscing seemed to have given him a new sense of purpose. "I just – she doesn't have to know I'm there, alright? Please, Rangiku. I need to see her."

I looked at him, heart aching. This man was so undeserving of everything that had happened to him, yet he put up with it all anyway.

I had to ask. "Did you – did you ever get—" _Did you ever get over losing your child?_

"No." He cut me off again before I could say it. I didn't blame him if he couldn't bear to hear it. "Never."

"Right. I…I'd best be careful then." Damn straight I'd better be careful. I was going to protect my baby with everything I had. Guess that meant I should probably pull out of active duty for a while.

He frowned. "What?"

He really didn't listen to me. Not that I could blame him – well, not now at least. "You didn't hear me before? Talking to Byakuya?"

"Uh…no? Wait. You—"

I grinned a little as his eyes widened and he stared wildly at me. Now _this_ was amusing.

"You're _pregnant_. With Kuchiki Byakuya'schild? And you…you told him you wouldn't marry him. Do you have a death wish, Rangiku?"

Psht. Byakuya could barely work up the guts to look at me, let alone try to kill me. Not that I thought he'd ever actually do that. "No, taichō. And I don't have a problem with marrying him. Hell, I'd love to!"

_I would?_

I thought on that even as I continued ranting at my Captain.

"But I want to marry him because we love each other, not for the sake of propriety. If he can't handle that, I'll bring our child up by myself."

That was about it. I'd never had any objection to marrying Byakuya. It was the _reason_ he wanted to marry me that got me all riled up.

I shook my head. "But forget about me for now, taichō. I – are you sure you want to do this?"

"Positive." He stood. "Where is she?"

xXx

_On to part two!_


	24. Chapter 24

_Part two! Yay!_

xXx

"Oi, Tōshirō! The old man finally agreed!" Ichigo swaggered towards us, a…was that a _Captain's_ haori slung over his shoulder? "It's Ichigo-_taichō_ now, of the Fifth Division."

He did it. He actually did it. I didn't think there was _anyone_ who could out-stubborn the Captain-Comander, not even Kurosaki Ichigo. "Technically, Deathberry, it's Kurosaki-taichō," I teased. "Congratulations, though." This was fantastic. Momo was going to be ecstatic. Well, perhaps not that hyper about it, but she'd be damn happy. That girl, no matter how good she was at it, wasn't made for command.

"Psht. I don't hold with all that formality crap. Kurosaki-san or -kun if you have to, but if you wanna call me taichō it's Ichigo." He grinned. "And thanks, Ran-chan. Where are you two off to? I was just going to tell Rukia the good news. Then I have to go Iba and make sure there's no hard feelings and _then _I'm off to see Momo."

I glanced sideways at my Captain before answering. "We're headed to district eighty."

It took a while longer for the message to sink in. Ichigo blinked, then blinked again. "Eh?"

"Don't worry, Kurosaki-taichō. I have no intention of interfering with Karin's recovery," Tōshirō said softly. "I just want to see her."

My heart ached a little more for my Captain as both Ichigo and I looked solemnly at him. He squirmed a little, although I don't think he noticed.

Eventually, Ichigo shrugged. "So? You don't have to explain yourself to me, Tōshirō. Just try not to hurt her."

"Try?"

"Some things can't be helped. But uh…take Hyōrinmaru with you." He rubbed his shoulder and winced. Karin had nailed him there before she recognised him and went into a seizure. I wasn't surprised that it still hurt, if he'd been all macho about it and refused to go to Fourth. "She hits bloody hard."

xXx

Tōshirō's face grew whiter the closer we got to Masaki's house. He was winding himself up and there wasn't anything I could do to stop him.

"You okay, taichō?" I asked quietly.

"Fine, Rangiku." Short, clipped, entirely unemotional. Then again, I hadn't expected anything else.

I thrust down a sigh. Even if it had become a habit, there was only a certain amount of times a person could sigh in one day before it became irritating. "Right. Well, I'd say you should probably dampen down your reiatsu now. Yours is the most likely to set Karin off again right now."

Slowly, I felt his presence disappear. That more than anything gave his feelings about the situation away – normally my Captain was a master of controlling his reiatsu. It comes with the ice, I think.

"Here. Stop."

Boy did he ever. I was surprised he didn't trip over himself, he stopped so suddenly. A watched the frown spread over his face as he took in Masaki's house.

"This…this isn't district eighty."

"Looks too clean, doesn't it? Masaki insists that everything is tidied up after it's used. She looks after a whole army of kids, feeds the ones that need feeding, gives candy to them all and makes sure no one is stepped on."

Okay, maybe there wasn't an _army_ of kids, but Hoshi was a Division all on her own.

"How? I mean she's only one woman in the worst district in the Rukongai."

"She's also the only Healer until sixty-eighth district and not everyone from around here is a Zaraki Kenpachi. You know how Unohana-taichō gets when people are threatening her Division? Masaki's like that whenever someone comes near her children with the wrong look on their face."

The frown deepened. "So she refuses to heal them?"

I wasn't sure Masaki was _capable_ of turning away an injured person. "Oh, no! No, she'd never do that. She just makes the whole process extraordinarily painful, and most of the men around here are too stupid to realise she can only do it while she's healing. There are also about twelve big, brawny men who are ridiculously protective of her. And then there's Karin-chan."

He gave me that expectant look that when directed at other people meant explain or die. To me, it meant explain or paperwork, which personally I feel is a fate worse than death

"She manifested her zanpakutō first day she arrived in the Rukongai. Being in district eighty, she needed something to protect her. I sparred with her once – she's got her brother's natural style." I frowned thoughtfully. "Actually, now that I think about it, maybe it's just a Kurosaki thing. Anyway, taichō, there's plenty of places around here for you to hide, but I'd suggest that tree." I pointed.

Okay, so I had an ulterior motive. I wanted to see the look on my Captain's face when I suggested he hide in a tree. But it really was a good position!

He glared.

"No, I'm serious! It's too warm to stay inside, so we've been gathering in that little clearing over there. If you climb that tree, you'll have a perfect view." _And I'll get to see you in a tree._ "Just keep your reiatsu under control."

"Perfect view, you say?"

I nodded. "Yep."

He eyed the tree. "Fine."

Success! "Good. So you get up that tree and I'll go to the door."

He flash-stepped to the tree as I headed towards the door. I hadn't taken five steps when it flew open and the children, lead of course by Hoshi, ran out to meet me.

"Ran-san! Ran-san, Ran-san, Ran-san!"

I laughed, fending them off "I'm sorry, lovelings, I don't have any candy for you today."

A chorus of disappointed groans filled the air. Hoshi gave me a near perfect pout making me laugh again.

"Next time, I promise! Next time. Now, can anyone tell me where Karin-chan is?"

They all nodded eagerly, except of course for Yuki who just stood there gazing at me, idly sucking his thumb.

Oh yeah. This child was Tōshirō's, no doubt about it. I was so _stupid_ to have missed it before! Then again, I'd had absolutely no idea that he and Karin had tumbled into bed together, let alone made a baby.

Still. It was none of my business. If Karin never remembered him…maybe then I'd let him know. But I didn't have to worry about that because she _was_ going to remember him. She was.

"Karin-chan! Karin-chan, Karin-chan, Karin-chan!"

Hoshi grabbed a hold of Yuki's hand and tugged him back towards the door. He blinked at me, once, then turned back to the older girl, mutely holding his arms up in a demand to be carried.

"Get Masaki too!" I cried after them. "Tell them I'll be in the clearing, alright?"

"Yes, Ran-san!"

I wandered back in the direction of the clearing, lazily twisting my hair over my shoulder. I flopped down on a chair carved into a tree stump and made a happy sound, placing a hand on my stomach. For some reason, being at this place made me feel at peace.

"Ah, Rangiku-san!" Masaki's voice drifted towards me. "We weren't expecting you for another two hours at least."

"Oh, hello Masaki. I told my taichō about the baby, and he let me have the afternoon off." I sighed, then swore inwardly at letting myself do it again. "He's too kind, sometimes. Where's Karin-chan?"

"I asked her to bring some juice out with her. It's too warm a day to be drinking tea." She settled into the carved chair opposite me. "Is there any news of Isshin?"

"None. Shiba Kukaku's always been notoriously hard to find, and Shunsui doesn't have much time, being a taichō. But he'll come out of hiding eventually."

"He'd better," Masaki laughed. "Oh, Karin, there you are. What kept you?"

"I….remembered something."

There was a faint rustling from Tōshirō's tree that probably meant he'd nearly fallen out of it.

"You did?" I cried, jumping from my seat and making a big deal about it. I like to do that sometimes. Most times. Okay, all the time.

"Mmm." She was frowning. A lot of that going around today. "A name, to go with that face I keep on seeing."

A face?

Oh. That face. My Captain's face. I wonder if I should have mentioned that to him?

"That's excellent, Karin-chan. What was the name?"

The frown deepened as she scratched the back of her neck. "Hitsugaya Tōshirō. It's cold, like Yuki. Mean anything to you?"

Tōshirō fell out of the tree.

I barely stopped myself from bursting out laughing. The only thing that stopped me was the act that he faced a very real possibility of death as Karin whirled around, unsheathing her zanpakutō Amaterasu in one fluid move and releasing her shikai instantly. Kurosaki Karin took no chances when it came to her family.

"Dazzle, Amaterasu!" she cried.

Similar to Ikkaku's shikai, Karin's Amatersau had two different release commands. The first, Dazzle, caused the zanpakutō to shine so brightly it would blind anyone who looked at it.

Tōshirō drew Hyourinmaru to protect himself and I winced at the shriek of steel. Or at least, what sounded like steel. No one really knows what our weapons are made from.

"Blaze, Amaterasu!"

Blaze, the second release, caused the blade to instantly incinerate anything in it's path. Well, except for other zanpakutō. Then it simply heated the weapon until it was too hot to hold without fusing it to your skin.

I watched the second release shock Tōhirō into opening his eyes, saw him wince, expecting to have his optic nerves fried, then nearly laughed at the look of surprise that crossed his face when it didn't happen.

The thing about these two releases is that, because they are so dangerous, hey have to be controlled. Therefore, they only effect those who mean harm to Karin. It could a severe drawback at times, but a fantastic advantage at others.

Something was happening to Karin. _Something was happening to Karin._

"You," she whispered, stumbling backwards and dropping Amaterasu. The moment it left her hand the zanpakutō stopped glowing and returned to its unreleased state. Karin clutched at her head, bending double. "_You!_"

She screamed.

Tōshirō didn't hesitate, probably didn't even think about it as he moved to her side in the blink of an eye, wrapping his arms around her tight and hugging her to his chest as she went into another full-blown seizure. I glanced sideways at Masaki as Karin screamed again in agony, but although she was wearing a worried frown, she didn't look in any hurry to stop what was happening, so I relaxed.

She screamed a third time, begging something about it stopping and please not stopping and my Captain, _my Captain_ started crying to see the love of his life in such a state. It felt almost too intimate to watch, to be a part of as he pulled her closer, tighter and she threw her arms around him, clinging to him while she buried her face in his chest.

Finally, it stopped. I only realised then that my fingernails had cut into my palms. Silently, Masaki took a hold of my wrists and her powerful healing kidō washed over the appendages, soothing.

"Tōshirō," she whispered, barely audible o me although it had to be like thunder to my Captain. "Tōshirō."

I saw her tense before he felt it and suppressed a grin. Karin wasn't one to cry easily.

"You _bastard_," she growled. "You complete and utter _bastard_." She started advancing on him and he nervously reached for Hyōrinamaru. "I left everything behind for you, and you didn't even have the decency to _find_ me!" I watched him stumble backwards as she delivered that same short, sharp series of attacks that I'd faced Byakuya with. It seemed so long ago, but I could still remember it like yesterday. Which was, incidentally, the day I'd taught Karin the move.

She was still yelling. "I can't _believe_ you!" Then, just as fast as she had drawn the zanpakutō, she re-sheathed it and delivered a hard roundhouse kick to his gut. Obviously he hadn't expected it, because he went down and narrowly missed impaling himself on Hyōrinmaru.

"You know, Karin-chan, I think the name Hitsugaya Tōshirō _does_ mean something to me after all," I drawled, unable and unwilling to keep the happy tone from my voice. Karin flipped me the bird even as she reached out her other hand to help Tōshirō up. He thought she wanted to feel strong. She wanted to beat the crap out of him. She swept her leg under his as he was halfway to a standing position and he went crashing down again.

"Was that really necessary?" he yelled, leaping to his feet and re-sheathing his own zanpakutō. I giggled, although I doubted he heard.

"Yes, it really was! Why didn't you look for me?"

"I _did_ look for you! I spent four years looking for you! I nearly destroyed my Division looking for you! Forgive me for looking in the wrong place!"

"Why in the Hell wouldn't you look in the Rukongai?" she demanded. They were standing toe-to-toe, screaming at each other.

"Why in the Hell would you have _been_ in the Rukongai?" he shot back. "Your family, your job, your _life_ were in the living world. You were killed by your fiancé, while you were _pregnant!_ You had everything keeping your Chain of fate wrapped around something physical, but here you are, in the Rukongai, sans soul burial!"

Karin stepped back and punched him in the face.

That must have been even more unexpected than the kicks, because he let her.

"You have never, _never_ had enough confidence in yourself, Tōshirō," she continued calmly as he gingerly pinched his nose. Probably it was the first time it had ever been broken. "There were only three things that could have kept me in the living world, and two of those things weren't there."

"Whad dwo dings?" he slurred, trying to stem the bleeding. Masaki stood and edged her way around her daughter to place a hand on the back of his neck to heal his nose. "I mean, what two things?"

_Shit. Hereit comes. Here it comes._

She rolled her eyes at him. "You, idiot. You, and our son."

It was too much for him. Some part of me crowed evilly – now he knew how _I _felt two weeks ago during The Day. There was no doubt in my mind that this day would be capitalised for him from now on as well. Hell, maybe I'd even circle it on my calendar. If I had a calendar, that is.

"S-son," he stuttered. "Our son."

Here came the explanation. Actually, I was pretty interested to know how it had happened too. "I'd been pregnant long enough to know the sex of the child, Tōshirō. That meant he had – has – a soul, which meant that if I wanted him to have a life, I had to come here so I could give birth. It's all very confusing, one in a million or billion chances of it happening, but I'm a Kurosaki. So. We have a son."

Tōshirō's head was turning towards me and I realised suddenly that _I wasn't meant to know this_. I conjured up the most convincing look of shock I think I'd ever worn in my life and slapped it across my face just as his eyes met mine.

"We have a son," he echoed weakly.

"Yuki!" I cried, just to rub it in a little. "Karin-chan, your son – he's Yuki, isn't he?" I actually smacked myself in the forehead. I was probably overacting, but whatever. Tōshirō wasn't likely to remember the exact details of this day. "I'm blind," I muttered. "Blind as a bloody bat, with half the good sense."

"Yes, Tōshirō, we have a son. Yes, Ran-san, he is Yuki. He's been walking for over a year now, and kicking a ball around for longer." Karin pulled at the end of her plait. "Damn this slow aging thing though. He's almost eight and he looks about two." She sighed. "And it gets even slower, looking at you. Now before I let you meet him, I'd like a kiss please. And not one of those ridiculous forehead pecks either. A proper kiss."

Boy did he kiss her. Was it just me, or did someone turn the heat up?

At least some people got their happy ending, and I couldn't think of any two people more deserving than these two.

xXx

_I would be lying if I said I didn't copy and paste a lot of this. But I think Ran definitely sows through here, and I really enjoyed writing all of this from her POV. I hope you guys liked it too! I don't think I've actually begged for reviews in a while, so I'll do it here._

_-puppy-dog eyes- _

_Pwease?_

_Alright, that's over and done with. Thanks for reading, see ya next chapter!_


	25. Chapter 25

_**Hoo shit! Chapter 314!**_

_I get the feeling Ran's confrontation with Gin is coming up. Although I wonder if Urahara and the sōtaichō actually outsmarted Aizen. Hn. We'll see._

_You know, there' something so daunting these days abut opening a new document and getting started on the latest chapter of The Stage. We're so close to the end now, and I'm not sure what I'm going to do when it's done. Probably pick up on Aftermath and start concentrating my efforts on Reset, really, but there's definitely a part of me that'll be missing this story. I'm going to stay away from the L&F series for a bit though, at least the chapter fics. You'll probably see a one-shot centering on Chiaki sometime soon though – I'm really looking forward to that._

_Anyway, I'm pretty sure that the next in the series will be __**Truth Or dare**__, the Momo/Shuuhei story (is waiting patiently for Philyra to post her Shuuhei fic), but if you desperately, _desperately_ want to see something else before then, there's a poll on my profile. Go vote and change my mind! It's really quite easy to do (the changing my mind, that is)_

_So. Here we go._

xXx

I didn't stay to watch Tōshirō meet his son. It was too personal, too _intimate _for me, something that should be kept strictly with the people directly involved.

My Captain had a son. Within a day he'd gone from having his paperwork and me (and truth tell, I hadn't really been there lately) to having a family.

I giggled a little. Hitsugaya Tōshirō was now a part of the ever-expanding Kurosaki Clan. I wonder if it'd hit him yet, that he was basically related to Ichigo.

Therehadn'tbeen any screams of anguish, so I doubted it.

Swinging around in my chair, I stared down at the seven-nine-eight in front of me. The Eleventh had destroyed something? When had that happened?

"I need to get back into work," I murmured, then shook my head. Me, Matsumoto Rangiku? Needing to work? The two were mutually exclusive.

The fusuma slid open and my Captain stumbled inside, Yuki attached to his back.

"Rangiku," he said, grinning widely. "Meet my son Yuki."

"Wangiku," the tiny child lisped at me before flashing the brightest smile I think I've ever seen.

The odd thing (other than seeing a smile on that sombre child's face) was the fact that the few times I'd heard Yuki speak, he didn't _have_ a lisp. The kid was playing cute, and doing a damn fine job of it too.

"You carried him through the Seireitei like that?" I asked, pulling a face at Yuki, who giggled. Definitely playing cute.

"You should have seen the looks we got," Karin laughed as she stepped into the doorway, tugging at the end of her braid.

"What's this?" I braced my feet against the desk and shoved myself over to the happy family. "You're moving in?"

"Nah, just staying the night. Thought we should get the awkwardness over and done with before we looked at anything serious. Plus, Yuki should see what his dad does for a living."

"Paperwork's not that interesting," I told the woman, who was dragging her son off my Captain's shoulders. Tōshirō, blushing a little at the mention of awkwardness, waved her off.

"Oh, I know all about paperwork," she muttered darkly, although the look she shot at Tōshirō was fond. "Gimme my kid, Tōshirō."

"Our kid," he corrected. "And no."

Karin blinked, then looked a little rueful. "Oops. Gonna take some time getting used to that, I guess." She blew a raspberry at Yuki, who blinked once then seemed to remember his cute routine and giggled again. His mother rolled her eyes and reached up to tweak his nose.

I was watching this scene unfold when the image hit me with the force of a physical blow.

_A child, five or six as human years went. A small blond boy, or a little dark girl, hugging me around the waist before running off to Byakuya who put up with the mauling good naturedly, the smile of a man who loves his child playing gently about his lips._

_Then our eyes met and Byakuya walked away with _my_ child._

_It was alright. I'd see them next week. Next week, I'd get my baby back._

"Oi, Ran-chan, y'there?" Karin's voice startled me out of the vision.

"What? Oh…yes."

Tōshirō was frowning knowingly at me; it was time to make my escape.

"I…I have to go, taichō," I said shakily, unsettled. "I'm so glad for the both of you. Karin—" I hugged her and hoped that said whatever needed to be said. "I'll see you later, maybe. And as for you, mister…" Reaching up, I brushed a kiss onto Yuki's soft cheek. He blinked at me, once, then sneezed. _Cute _kid. "Give 'em hell, 'kay?"

I tried very hard to make it look like I wasn't running, but I don't think I succeeded.

"Rangiku! Oi, Rangiku! What the hell happened?"

I slowed to a stop at the sound of Ichigo's voice. "What do you mean?" I asked, forcing a cheerful note into my voice before spinning around to face him, grinning so wide my eyes closed.

"Don't do that. It's creepy," he grumbled. I cracked my eyes open a little and saw the Deathberry looking rather awkward in his Fifth Division haori, unable for some reason to look at me. "Uh…there's been rumours, y'know? About—"

"Karin's remembered," I told him, letting the cheerful tone fall out slightly. He knew it was fake anyway. "She's with taichō. And, uh…" I smiled a little. "There's a surprise for you there as well, if you go know."

Ichigo started, finally managing to look at me. "The Yuki kid?"

I gaped. "You _knew?_"

"Che. I'm not the idiot everyone seems to think I am."

"Rukia figured it out, didn't she." It wasn't a question.

He coughed, then shot me a grin almost identical to his sister's. "Ain't nothing that gets past you, is there Ran?"

"'Ain't nothing'?" I echoed. "Ichigo, you've been spending too much time with the Eleventh."

He rolled his eyes. I waiting for him to either speak or leave to find his newly reformed family but he didn't to either.

"Uh…Ichigo? You there?"

He did an Odd Shuffle Thing. Rikichi's been getting around. I raised an eyebrow.

"Something you want to say?"

"I just…damn, I've never seen Byakuya so broken up, y'know? We both know he won't say anything to you, but I thought you should know that he's sort of…a wreck."

What did I say? What was I meant to say in this situation? I had no idea.

"Don't tell me," I said softly, and an image of that child's smiling face popped into my head as Byakuya carried them away. "Ichigo, just…" From somewhere I managed to dredge up a smile.

That's what you're meant to do, isn't it? Smile?

"We'll be fine," I said simply.

He gave me a disbelieving look.

"Truly." Damn this man for growing up smart, for being mature, for being so _caring_. Damn him! "I – have to go."

He caught my wrist as I brushed past him. "Where?"

I stared at him helplessly. I didn't have an answer.

For the first time in my life, I was totally speechless.

xXx

A month went by and I began to show. Byakuya and I successfully avoided each other, mostly because he stuck in his office and I stuck in mine. I was pulled off active duty and buried myself in paperwork – to distract myself and also to give Tōshirō time to spend with his family.

The change in him was astonishing. Even after Ichigo had jerked him out of that half-crazed state, my Captain had still sunk into periods of black depression. Those disappeared – of course they did, now that the source of that depression was back in his arms.

When Karin wasn't with Tōshirō, Yuki was. I hadn't been sure how he would take to fatherhood, but I should have known not to worry. He doesn't love easily, my Captain, but he loves _deeply_ and it looked like Yuki had picked up on that trait. He toddled along silently next to Tōshirō as my Captain joined the Division practices again for the first time in over seven years, one tiny hand dwarfed in his father's and the other clutching at his soccer ball.

It hurt to watch. I tried to lie to myself and say it didn't, but it did. So much.

Those friends who hadn't known took the news about my pregnancy and subsequent split with Byakuyawith varying degrees of intensity. Ikkaku was all for going after Byakuya's guts and Iba would have been right along with him if he hadn't been so swamped. The Captain-Commander was still in negotiations with Urahara and Yoruichi, and with Isshin nowhere to be found, the Seventh Division was still slowly sinking.

Yumichika fluttered over me and tried to coax me into a bitching session about men, but I wasn't in the mood; I received a pitying look from him and was told that I'd become one of 'them' now.

I didn't want to be one of 'them'! 'They' were woman whose men meant everything to them, who couldn't let go.

Then again, I hadn't asked for any of this to happen.

Rukia tried to shoot me looks full of meaning that were intercepted by Ichigo. He must have told her to leave well enough alone though, because she stopped eventually and simply said that if I ever needed an intermediary she was there and also that she was going to be the best damn aunt ever.

Momo…Momo had her own problems, although she wouldn't tell me what they were. I tried to let _her_ know I was there if she needed helpbut she simply gave me a bright smile and said that this time, she was going to deal with it on her own.

It was strange, but I believed she could do it. She'd settled back so well into the role of vice-captain and I knew Ichigo appreciated it – he'd never tell anyone, but we all knew how terrified he was of doing something wrong in his new role as a Captain.

Another month passed as I surrounded myself with people in an effort to keep busy. Eighth Division was on active duty, with Nanao stationed in Karakura Town so I didn't have her much needed support. On the other hand, I had everyone else. Isane especially was a huge help and not only because she was able to give me accurate and quick updates on the progress of my baby, but because she chared Nanao's uncanny ability to know just what to say. Unlike Nanao, she knew how to soften it.

Shunsui suddenly took on the role of grandfather or crazy uncle and would often speak to my stomach as we lounged about in Nanao's small cottage, mourning her loss. As Tōshirō spent time with his family, Shunsui and I did our paperwork together- with Nanao absent and therefore unable to be provoked, we powered through it. The Captain of the Eighth Division had made noises about lowering his alcohol intake in support for me, but with the help of Ukitake we put a cap on that. Shunsui needed sake, to block out the faces from the past when Nanao was gone. There was a reason that man hated to fight, and it didn't have anything to do with laziness.

I was five months pregnant and terrified because I still hadn't felt Baby kick yet when everyone – and I do mean _everyone_ – decided to throw a party and dragged me out to the house at District Eighty.

"I can't! I can't go! I'm _waddling!_ Baby's teeth are forming in their gums, reproductive organs are—"

"We don't need to know nothin' about no-one's reproductive organs!" Ikkaku shouted from somewhere near the back of the huge crowd outside my room.

"C'mon, Rangiku." Karin shifted Yuki in her arms. "Mum'n Yuzu have been cooking all day. You wouldn't want to ruin that for them, would you?"

I glared at her. "You're a bad person."

"Baby isn't going to suffer because it's not cooped up in this tiny room or the office," Karin countered.

"Oh – fine!" I huffed, and allowed Shunsui to carry me out to Masaki's.

It was by no means anything like our old parties; purely a sit-down affair, this, with no alcohol in sight and plenty of Masaki and Yuzu's home cooking. We were getting stuck into dessert when I felt a sharp pain in my lower ribs and went still.

"Rangiku?" Momo asked softly from my left. "Are you alright."

That pain again, then once more.

"I think…I think Baby's kicking," I said quietly, but somehow everyone heard me over the clatter of dishes and good-natured banter. Even the children went silent as everyone stared and Masaki placed a hand on my stomach.

And then Baby must have kicked _and_ punched because I swear I felt pain in three different places.

Masaki grinned widely. "Alive and kicking," she announced to the whole table. "And it's a—"

"No, don't tell me!" I laughed as everyone surged forward to try and feel Baby moving about. Masaki raised a questioning eyebrow at me. "I want it to be a surprise."

I went home that night and wrote a letter to Byakuya, saying everything I had too much pride to say to him in person.

Yes, pride. I was too proud to go back, but as Byakuya said, pride has its place.

_Pride needs to take a step back when it's hurting people._

But I couldn't. I couldn't step back, because this wasn't just any pride, it was my individuality. It was everything that I'd fought so hard to keep, with men slavering at me and women bitching about me and no one believing in me except for Gin.

Marriage was the one thing I'd promised myself I wouldn't do for anyone except myself. Not even the man I loved could change that.

But still. I had Baby to think of. So I wrote that letter, telling him that we needed to talk, I was willing to listen, if we could sort something out, a _compromise_…

The letter was returned to me the next day, unopened.

xXx

I was eight months pregnant and waddling like a duck. For the first time in my life, I thanked my boobs for the difficulties in sleeping, walking and generally living that they had given me – it was nothing compared to carting around Baby, but at least I was prepared for the extreme back pains and everything else that came along with being pregnant.

Because I was a masochist, I kept on sending that letter to Byakuya. It was almost a game now, because I knew it was going to be sent back the next day. A part of me was sitting back and watching in morbid curiosity, waiting to see just how low I could sink.

I'd received the latest incarnation of the letter back today and as a result had thrown myself into paperwork. Technically Tōshirō had forbidden me to step foot in the office...

Okay, so it wasn't a technicality. My captain had spoken to Isane, and then Unohana to find out as much about pregnancy as possible. He looked a little green around the gills when I found him – I guess that 'stress is bad for the baby' wasn't the only thing he found out.

Except paperwork didn't stress me out these days, it calmed me down. It _distracted _me, from the letters and Baby kicking and the sheer horror that was being eight months pregnant and _so damn ready to pop this sucker out._

I didn't mean that, Baby, but really. You have no idea what I'm going through for you right now.

But anyway. Point is, Tōshirō wasn't there. Tōshirō was out spending time with his own family, and _someone_ had to do the paperwork.

"I'm sure I said something about you not stepping foot in here."

Well. Tōshirō was _meant _to be out spending time with his family.

"Feet are firmly off the ground, taichō," I shot back, wriggling my sandals at him from out the side of my desk as I forged his name at the bottom of a top secret file. I'd done all of my paperwork and moved on to his.

He stared disbelievingly at pile of completed papers on my desk, ready to be sent off to wherever the hell they were meant to go (yeah, four years running this place and I still didn't know), then stared disbelievingly at _me_.

"What?" I asked, crossing my arms defensively. Or at least, trying to. Between boobs and Baby, it was more than a little difficult.

"How did you _do_ that?"

I kid you not, the only word that could possibly describe his tone was _flabbergasted_.

"Do what?" I asked airily, hand flying down the paper. I wasn't even thinking about it anymore.

"_I _can't do that! Why haven't you done that before?" He seemed to have forgotten in his shock that I wasn't meant to be doing this at all. More power to me.

"I have done it before, taichō. You probably don't remember." In my absentmindedness, I'd forgotten that those four years weren't to be mentioned. Ever.

But the reaction I got wasn't the reaction I'd expected. Instead of freezing up, Tōshirō simply sighed.

"I'm sorry, Rangiku."

The words cut through my soul like a zanpakutō. I tried to brush them off.

"You already apologised, taichō. Don't sound so guilty!" I signed another paper, this one with my signature.

"But—"

"Tōshirō."

The serious note in my voice must have caught his attention, because he shut up. I continued to look down at my paperwork.

"I need the distraction," I told him. "It's fine. Honestly."

Another sigh on his part and the sound of footsteps approaching. I concentrated on my hand forming the characters and swore as my it shook a little too hard and smeared one or five.

"You sure you don't want me to call him out?" he asked softly. "I can do it, you know. A lot of the old laws haven't been refined yet."

I laughed, shaky as my hand. "Taichō, don't be stupid. Byakuya and I are dealing with this in our own way."

Yeah. We were not dealing with it. Neat, huh?

He pulled up a chair. "So basically, you're not dealing with it?"

My reaction was instantaneous. "Yes, well you'd know all about that, wouldn't you taichō?" The brush broke in my hand.

We both stared at it in silence.

"I – I'm sorry, taichō. I didn't mean – you know hormones and all…"

"You don't think you have the right to be bitter about that time, Rangiku?" Tōshirō asked softly. "I turned my back on my Division and the woman who was there for me through thick and thin, who always supported me, to wallow in my grief. I let you _down_."

"Don't."

"But I'm not going to let you down this time, Rangiku. I promise you, anything you need—"

"_Don't_, taichō!"

"Why not?" he yelled suddenly, standing up and banging his fists on the desk. "Why won't you let me help you?"

"_Because I shouldn't need it!_" I screamed.

I can't remember the last time I screamed, really, truly screamed. There were so many times I'd felt like just breaking down during this pregnancy, but the one thing that had stopped me was the thought swimming across my head.

_Matsumoto Rangiku doesn't scream._

It was a cornerstone of my being. I didn't scream. It went against everything that was _me_. I was meant to be calm, cool and collected, to always have the advice or witty remark or to be fun and ditzy, readily available when someone needed cheering up. None of those required screaming.

"Rangiku—"

"Leave, taichō. Please," I whispered, blinking down at my hands. No more. I couldn't take this.

He didn't leave. In fact, he did the exact opposite, and for the first time in my life I felt my Captain's arms curling around my shoulders, unbidden.

"There's no point in speaking to him or writing to him or having any contact with him whatsoever," I mumbled into his shoulder. "I'm being selfish. I have so many people here with me, supporting me. Nanao's even coming back today."

"It's not selfish to want the father of your child to be standing next to you, Rangiku," Tōshirō replied, just as quietly.

"I know that. In my heart I know that. But that doesn't stop me from feeling selfish anyway. And it's not the father of my child I want next to me, it's Byakuya. Byakuya as Byakuya, right next to me but it can't be that way because with the two of us either I'm in front or he is. There's no side by sidethere." My voice cracked. "I miss him so much, Tōshirō. I miss him so much and I hate that I miss him."

He remained silent. What do you say to that anyway?

_C'mon, Ran-chan, cheer up. Ain't like you to be mopin' around like this._

_What if I want it to be like me?_

_Well tha's too bad, ain't it? Cos I ain't gonna let ya._

_Sod off, Gin. You're dead._

_So I got an excuse fer bein' down. What's yer excuse? Ain't got no man?_

_Ain't got no father fer my kid, Gin._

_Ah, don't speak like me, Ran. Ya always were too good fer tha', too good fer me. So what if yer kid don't got no daddy? You an' me didn't._

_And look how we turned out._

_Worse than some, better'n most. Least I got t' see ya afore I carked it. Ain't no daddy that could do that for me._

…_I miss you._

_Don' miss me, Ran. I ain't here anymore. _

_That's why I miss you!_

_Snap outta it, Ran, afore ya kawaii lil' taichō starts gettin' worried._

_I don't want you to go._

_I ain't really here, Ran. I'm jus' a part o' yer imagination. Think o' it that way and ya'll feel better._

That was quite possibly one of the strangest experiences in my life. Was that him? Did I make that all up in my head because I was feeling vulnerable?

Was I going insane?

Slowly, reluctantly, I untangled Tōshirō's arms from about my neck. I needed to speak to _someone_ about this, and he wasn't that someone.

Momo. Or Isane or even Unohana.Fifth Division or Fourth Division?

"I have to go, taichō."

He gave me a disbelieving look.

"I'm not avoiding you. Or the issue. Or – whatever. I just…trust me?"

"Where are you headed?"

"What, do I need to be walked home?" I snorted bitterly, remembering Byakuya's words, such a long time ago.

Tōshirō sighed, _again_. "So are you going home?"

"No. Fourth Division," I decided on a whim. "And no, I don't need to be walked there. I'm perfectly capable of waddling my way around the Seireitei." I answered my own question, forcing cheerfulness into my voice regardless of how fake it sounded. This was my way of coping. This was my way of surviving.

"You're sure?"

"Positive." My voice dropped back to serious for a moment, just to reassure him. "I promise, taichō. I'll be fine. This is just – hormones."

"Hormones," he repeated flatly.

"You got it!" I winked, and the whole thing hurt my face, but I did it anyway. "I'll see you later." His eyes were on me as I left the office, but I didn't look back. A matter of pride, you might say.

I had barely been aware of that suffocating feeling until I stepped out of the office and started to make my way towards Fourth. There was a large expulsion of reiatsu as someone somewhere opened a senkaimon – Sixth Division was replacing Eighth today, as Seventh was still failing. Urahara and Yoruichi, irritated with the sōtaichō's demands, had disappeared and although Isshin had been found and returned to his wife, he was refusing to even think about resuming his Captaincy.

Caught up in my musings as I was, I almost didn't hear it.

"Bakudō no roku jū ichi. Rikujōkōrō."

_Binding art number sixty one. Six stave light prison._

It was _his_ move, but I barely had time to register that before a cloth covered in _something_ was slapped over my mouth and nose. Struggling was futile, the kidō ensured that, and I lost consciousness without seeing the face of my attacker.

It was _his_ move.

xXx

_Hoo, shit. I wrote this whole thing in a day. Whoa._

_**PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE,**__**don't have the whole chapter centre around the cliffie at the end. **__I know it's going to piss most of you off, but __**there is more to this chapter than **_**just the ending**

_Okay? So, please?_

_Translations, courtesy of wikipedia and chapter 301._

_Much love to you all! Next chapter is the last! I'm so nervous, but so, _so_ excited!_


	26. End

_The sheer horror of what I've done to you lot has made get started on the last chapter a whole week before I was even going to think about it._

_Come on! She's been _knocked out_. Why do all of you think this is a _good_ thing?_

**But anyway.**

_This – this chapter is huge, let me warn you. There are a hundred ups and downs and I haven't even started writing yet (in case you haven't figured out my system yet, A/N's at the top are before I write the story, at the end are after). But I can guarantee you that there won't be one of you who's seen what's coming next._

_I would like to see a show of hands – how many of you clicked on this story for a laugh? Or because you went Rangiku/Byakuya, WTF? Gotta see _this

_Lol, and how many of you expected to stick around for this one, eh?_

_There are so many people I want to thank for their lovely reviews, for boosting me up when I was down and for being generally fantastic – if I could list you all, I would, but I hit the 300 mark with chapter 24 and we'd run out of room for the chapter if I tried. I do attempt to reply to every review I get, and if I missed you out for one reason or another, please know that I wasn't snubbing you or anything and that I appreciate and love each review. I'm just a very scatter-brained person. _

_But before we get started, I would like to haul up six absolutely amazing readers and embarrass/honour them greatly for the contributions they made to this story._

**Namimakura**_ – Geez, where do I even start with you? You stumbled in around chapter twelve, I think and then went _back_ to review each chapter! I don't even know what to say about the fanart and fan_fiction_. You're a fantastic writer and artist, hun, and this story is all the more brighter for you._

**Cricketchick1990**_ – Hoo, boy. The one reader who agreed to be spoiled for the rest of the story and the only person who knows what's going to happen. Thank you so much for letting me bitch about my word count and not hurting me _too_ hard when I told you there wasn't going to be a sequel to the original L&F. This last chapter would never have been possible without you letting me work it through out loud (well, figuratively speaking) with you._

**Philyra**_ – The wonderful Philyra, who wrote the amazing _Sway _(I voted for you, btw) and then reviewed. It took me a while to make the connection, I'm afraid. One of the crackiest writers on FFN (along with myself, I guess) who knows that just because it's crack doesn't mean it can't _work_. Thank you so much for the help with Ran's bankai – this chapter would have been impossible without you. I'm working on that drabble, promise!_

**Calendar – **_Thank you thank you thank you! I think I would have died if you'd stopped reviewing. You even reviewed the double update! What's more, you always had something to say about the characterization or plot and your lovely, __lovely__, fantastic reviews were always so long and detailed! _

**Snowzapped – **_Once again, a huge, fantastic help with Ran's bankai and a huge, fantastic help in general. Thank you so, so much!_

**Lillix Vail**_ – who reviewed faithfully every chapter and someone managed to be _first_ for the majority. Your exuberance (and the many, many exclamation marks) always made me smile and always cheered me up. Thanks to you as well!_

_Alright, I've gone on for a page with these notes, so I'd better get started. __**This chapter is multi POV, please to be not killing.**_

_Let's go out with a bang. –snerk- So dramatic_

xXx

The crumbled sheet of paper fell from Kuchiki Chiaki's suddenly nerveless fingers. She licked her suddenly dry lips, shocked out of the emotion less façade that was the mark of a Kuchiki.

"This is an exact copy, you say?"

"Word for word, Kuchiki-sama," the spy replied, eyes down-cast. "I have just returned from delivering the original."

"You've already _delivered_ it?" she snapped, beginning to pace. This spy was one of her most trusted – well, as much as Chiaki could trust anyone these days – and had seen her wearing emotion before.

"This morning. I only just got away. There was a certain time-frame in which it had to be delivered, Chiaki-sama."

The old woman came to a sudden halt. "The senkaimon. They are doing it _today?_"

"I…I believe they may have already done it."

Chiaki closed her eyes.

_I am being watched. I can tell no one. Everything I've worked so hard for is about to crash down around me and I can do nothing._

_Unless…_

Her eyes snapped open.

"How much do I loathe Rukia-sama?" she asked the spy.

"With your entire being," was the prompt response.

"Excellent." She bustled over to her desk and quickly scratched down two separate notes. One berated Rukia for some transgression against the family honour, stamped with the family seal. The other she signed herself and hoped it wasn't too vague. She handed the two sheets of paper to her spy. "Ensure that you are only seen giving one note to her. Lives depend on it."

Chiaki had been working with Rukia for years, especially in the case of Rangiku and Byakuya. Although they were doing it for different reasons – Rukia for her brother's happiness, Chiaki for the continuation of the Clan – they had the same goal. It was through Rukia that Chiaki had known so much about the relationship between the Tenth's vice-captain and the head of her family.

The spy left at a run and the old woman turned to her only loyal servant, standing silently by the door.

"Get the sōtaichō, and be quick about it," she ordered. The servant nodded sharply, and disappeared.

Chiaki sat down and closed her eyes again, lost in memories over two thousand years old when she was young and beautiful and in love.

She had a favour to call in.

xXx

"Give it to me."

"No fucking way."

"_Give _it to me!"

"Get off me, you bitch! You gotta say _yes_ first!"

Rukia blinked, slipping off Ichigo's back in surprise.

"What on earth made you think I was going to say _no?_"

Her idiot looked cautiously happy. "So…that's a yes?"

"Give me the ring."

"You have to say yes first!"

"Give me the ring, and I'll say yes!"

"Ah…Rukia-sama?"

The vice-captain of the Thirteenth Division whipped around to glare at whoever had intruded, only to find that it was a servant dressed in Kuchiki livery. The glare lessened, but didn't go away.

"What does Nii-sama want now?"

"I have a note from Chiaki-sama, Rukia-sama."

Rukia strangled a grin and deepened the frown instead. She saw Ichigo roll his eyes as he fiddled with a small velvet box. He knew what was going on with her and Chiaki and thought the whole thing was stupid. His inability to understand Kuchiki politics was one of the reasons she loved him, although it grated on her nerves sometimes.

"Give it here," she sighed, holding out her hand. The messenger moved forward to give her a sheet of paper, but somehow he tripped and crashed into her. If she hadn't been expecting it, she wouldn't have even noticed the other note slipped in the sleeve of her uniform.

"My deepest apologies, Rukia-sama!" the messenger babbled, bowing repeatedly.

She waved him off. "It's fine. Don't worry about it."

The spy made to leave, still bowing.

"Wait!"

"Yes, Rukia-sama?"

"Are…there any other messengers looking to make a delivery here?" _Are there any other spies?_

"Not to my knowledge, Rukia-sama."

And from what she knew about this particular spy, it was very good knowledge indeed. Not that she had expected anyone to be watching anyway – no one cared to see Kuchiki Rukia fume about another reprimand from her great-aunt.

"What does the old bat want now?" Ichigo grumbled.

Rukia's frown deepened as she tossed said reprimand aside without reading it and reached into her sleeve to pull out Chiaki's real message. "'Inform Byakuya of letter contents immediately.'" She looked up and frowned. "What letter?"

Ichigo bent down and picked up a slightly crumpled piece of paper that had fluttered to the ground. She hadn't even noticed the spy dropping it. _Damn_ that guy was good. "This it?"

She snatched the paper from him and quickly scanned it.

"What?" she whispered, letter fluttering back to the ground. She shook her head to clear it and leapt into action. Or rather, she leapt onto Ichigo's back and then left the action to him.

"You need to find my brother."

"What Why—"

"Go!"

And with the speed he was famous for, he went.

xXx

When Rangiku didn't come back after an hour, Tōshirō wasn't too worried. Of course, Karin had dropped Yuki off while she went to visit Yuzu at the Shinigami Academy (strictly no children unless they were enrolled) and Tōshirō had been understandably distracted playing office soccer. However , another ten or so minutes passed, and Tōshirō was starting to get that same niggling feeling he had when Rangiku had dared Gin to kill her back in the war. Something was wrong.

"Tou-san?" Yuki asked softly, staring up at him with those dark eyes. It had been months and Tōshirō still wasn't used to being called 'Dad'.

Not to say he didn't like it of course.

"We're just going to find Rangiku-san," he replied quietly. "She should be with Isane-san."

Yuki nodded solemnly, holding his arms up to be carried. Tōshirō smiled softly and complied. "No pulling on my hair this time, alright?"

He received silence in return. Yuki made no promises.

xXx

"What do you mean she never came here?"

An hour and a half since she'd left the office. It wasn't really that strange, but she'd told him that she was going to Fourth. Only she never showed, and Tōshirō had been certain she wasn't lying to him when she said it.

"Maybe she met Nanao on the way here?" Isane suggested. "She was coming back today wasn't she?"

Tōshirō's frown deepened. "Maybe. I…" He trailed off, looking at his son sitting quietly on a bed, swinging his legs back and forth. "Could you look after Yuki while I go and check this out?"

"It's only Nanao's cottage, Hitsugaya-taichō," the woman replied softly.

"I know. I just – something's off here. I got the feeling she really needed to come here."

"What do you think has happened to her, Hitsugaya-taichō?"

"Nothing good," he replied shortly. "Please, Kotetsu-san?"

"Of course," she agreed after a brief pause.

He breathed a sigh of relief and turned to the exit.

"Tou-san?"

"Be good for Kotetsu-san, Yuki," he told his son softly, before flash-stepping out the door.

He arrived at Nanao's cottage in record time and hammered on the door.

No response.

It crossed his mind that it was Nanao's first day back in the Seireitei and that Kyōraku was probably _very_ happy to see her, but by that stage he'd already busted the door down and was in the cottage.

"Hitsugaya-taichō?" came Nanao's bewildered voice from – behind him?

"Ah…Ise-fukutaichō."

"Did my door do something to irritate you?" she asked politely, lips quirking.

"Have you been with Rangiku?" he blurted.

She frowned at him from behind her glasses. "No, Shun – Kyōraku-taichō, why?"

He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Have you seen her at all?"

"No, actually. We were meant to meet each other as soon as I got back, but she wasn't there so I went to visit Sh – Kyōraku-taichō."

"Ise-fukutaichō, it's entirely acceptable for you to refer to him as Shunsui, you realise."

"I know, sir. He doesn't."

Tōshirō rolled his eyes at the round about ways those two showed affection before his worry for Rangiku hit him full force again.

"Why is it so important for you to find Rangiku, sir?"

"Because she's disappeared."

Nanao adjusted her glasses and Tōshirō felt a sudden chill.

"Then I suggest we give Kuchiki-taichō a visit, sir."

xXx

_Where…am I?_

"She is awakening."

"Shit. We'd better get outta here."

"No. There must be signs of a struggle, or else this plan shall fail."

_What's…going on?_

"Matsumoto Rangiku."

"Mmpf," I groaned, struggling into a sitting position. For some reason my arms weren't obeying me. "What…?"

"We are here on orders of Kuchiki Byakuya-sama," intoned a formal voice. I blinked once of twice, trying to rid myself of the double-vision plaguing me.

"What the hell happened?" I mumbled to the strangers.

Suddenly Baby gave one large kick to my ribs. _That _woke me up.

The reason my arms weren't cooperating was being these bastards had me in a _restrain_. Damn kidō!

"What are you doing?" I asked, shoving down the panic like I had so many times before in dangerous situations. _I am a vice-captain of the Gotei Thirteen. I can get out of this._

Except I'd always sucked at kidō, and I was no Kurosaki Ichigo, to break a restrain with sheer reiatsu. At least, not while I was pregnant.

"We are here on orders of Kuchiki Byakuya-sama," that formal tone repeated. I whipped around to see two forgettable men standing next to me.

"Yeah. He wants ya dead."

I froze. Not that I'd been moving much before, but I think I even stopped breathing for a moment.

"I see this news comes as a surprise to you."

"It shouldn't!" crowed the other one. I vaguely recognised his voice as a servant from the Kuchiki Manor.

"Byakuya would never—"

"For what reason do you think it was that he was returning your letters? He no longer has any need of you."

"Whore!"

"It has been determined that you are not one for suicide. You are, however, the type of person to run off recklessly to help people you care about."

My attention was suddenly drawn to a presence at my left. Rikichi was there, trussed up like a chicken. No restrain on him – he was too good at kidō for it to hold him long, even unconscious as he was.

"You bastards."

"We are merely following orders, Matsumoto Rangiku." The formal one held out his hand. I didn't recognise what was in it until it was already too late and he'd crumbled the object.

"Rest in peace, fukutaichō," he said softly as the hollow bait hit the ground.

xXx

Tsubokura Rin stared in disbelief at the screen he'd fallen asleep on.

"E-e-eh?" he shrieked, leaping up. "That's not good!"

"What are you whining about now?" Akon grumbled from his own screen.

Ri waved his hand wildly. "K-Karakura! There's been a massive Hollow invasion, just like that! No warning or – hey!"

Akon ignored his squeal of protest as Rin was sent crashing to the ground form his shove.

"Shit. _Shit_."

"I told you!"

"Get taichō."

"B-b-but—" The Captain was _creepy._

"_Now_."

xXx

"You bastard," Tōshirō snarled as soon as they found the Captain of the Sixth Division. His anger had been growing throughout the search for first Rangiku and then Kuchiki, and for the moment it didn't matter what the hell had happened so long as he could _take it out on someone._ Kuchiki was as good a target as any, considering what he'd put his vice-captain through in the first place.

There was no stopping to think, only action. A single flash-step brought him straight to the Captain of the Sixth Division, whereupon he slammed his hand against the noble's throat and shoved him into the nearest wall.

"Where is she?" he growled as ice started to crawl across Kuchiki's neck. "Where is she!"

The bastard's eyes were wide open in shock. _Good_. He pushed harder, not choking but damn close to it. "What have you done with my vice-captain?"

"Nii-sama! Hitsugaya-taichō, what are you—"

"Leave it!" Nanao's voice cracked across Rukia's as the other vice-captain and her lover arrived on the scene.

"But—"

"If you go towards them now, it's entirely likely you'll die," Nanao said calmly. "Hitsugaya-taichō is not in a very hospitable mood."

"Her reiatsu has disappeared," the other Captain whispered, and Tōshirō saw something akin to horror flash through those wide-open eyes. "I cannot find her."

Tōshirō froze, the ice retreating in surprise. "You – what?" He was transfixed by the sheer emotion he could see in Kuchiki's normally blank eyes.

Pure terror. Kuchiki Byakuya was _scared._

But not of him. No, Tōshirō may as well not have been there for all the attention the Sixth Division Captain was paying to the hand on his neck. Kuchiki knew something had happened to Rangiku, and was terrified for her.

"Hitsugaya-taichō. Unhand Kuchiki-taichō this instant."

He obeyed automatically at the sound of the Captain-Commander's voice, stumbled back a step or so.

"Chiaki-sama?" Rukia stuttered. "I thought you were being watched!"

"Doesn't matter so much when the sōtaichō himself comes to get you," Chiaki replied, the usual cackle gone from her voice. She seemed to be avoiding eye contact with the Captain-Commander.

"I believe we are all here for the matter of Matsumoto Rangiku," Yamamoto said, that irritatingly superior tone to his voice.

"The _matter_?" Kuchiki echoed, and Tōshirō nearly fell over in shock at the _anger_ in those words. It was dangerous anger, quiet and his voice shook with it.

"There has been an inundation of Hollow in Karakura Town. It is possible that Matsumoto-fukutaichō has attempted a rescue of her fellow fukutaichō Yamashita Rikichi—"

"She wouldn't do that," Tōshirō interrupted. "She's pregnant. Her baby means everything to her." He shot the Kuchiki Captain a look, but the other man was too far gone to notice.

The Captain-Commander glared at Tōshirō, who stared impassively back.

"But," Yamamoto continued. "We have evidence that this was a cover and that this was in fact an attempt on Matsumoto-fukutaichō's life."

Tōshirō was close enough to Kuchiki to hear the noise the other man made in the back of his throat as he closed his eyes, presumably to keep himself composed.

"How many Hollow?" Kuchiki asked softly.

"We cannot say for sure."

"So give an _estimate_," the man hissed.

Everyone froze. There weren't many people who could speak to the Captain-Commander like that and live.

"Somewhat in excess of one hundred," Yamamoto replied finally, choosing for whatever reason to ignore Kuchiki's blatant disrespect. "And it appears more are gathering."

Rangiku couldn't take on that many. Her strength was in her speed, and being pregnant had effectively taken that away from her. With shikai, she could probably hold them of for a while and if Rikichi was fighting as well she might make it. But if Rikichi wasn't there, the possibility of her survival decreased.

If he was somehow unable to fight and she was protecting him, she might as well be dead now.

He couldn't entertain that thought. He wasn't going to lose his vice-captain. He _wasn't._

"Ukitake-taichō is holding the senkaimon open. We can spare—"

But Kuchiki was already gone.

"One taichō," Yamamoto finished redundantly. "Hmph. Youngin's these days. No respect."

Tōshirō was already preparing to flash step after Kuchiki when a hand was laid on his shoulder.

"I've no doubts as to who it was who ordered the assassination attempt, sir," Nanao said softly. "And knowing that family, I'm sure they've twisted it so Rangiku thinks Byakuya wants her dead. Let him go."

"But—"

"His bankai is also better suited to killing many Hollow at one go, sir," she continued. "If the is anyone who can save Rangiku, it is Kuchiki Byakuya."

Tōshirō clenched his fists.

"He'd better."

xXx

They took the restrain off me as soon as they stepped into the senkaimon. I made a run for it, got halfway there and realised I'd left Rikichi behind. By the time I'd gotten back to him, the doors had already shut.

"No!" I screamed.

More of this screaming thing.

"No! You can't do this! You can't do this! Byakuya!"

I was near hysterical with fear and Baby must have known because I got another mean kick to the gut.

There was a tearing sound as the first Hollow appeared, followed quickly by three others. My hands were shaking almost too hard to draw Haineko, but somehow I managed, ripping her from her sheath and holding her unsteadily in front of me as more Hollow show up.

There was no point in trying to wield Haineko properly. I could barely turn around with out falling over, actually fight would be beyond me. I could flash-step away, but that would leave the rest of Karakura Town in danger.

I looked down at my stomach. "I'm sorry," I whispered, as the multitudes of Hollow drew nearer. "I'm so sorry. But one life – even yours – doesn't mean anything in the face of hundreds."

I took a deep breath, steadying myself, pushing down the fear as I had so many other times in my life.

"Growl, Haineko!"

xXx

What if he was too late?

He wasn't going to be too late.

But what if he was?

He _wasn't_.

Ukitake's face was pale and drawn as Byakuya flash-stepped past him. The doors shut almost immediately and he lost his haori between them as he started to run, unable to flash-step in this halfway world.

He _wasn't._

xXx

_Where are all these fuckers coming from?_

It was useless. The bastards sure had picked a good time, what with Orihime's family having gone with Chad and Tatsuki to Mexico for a holiday.

"They got lucky," I muttered under my breath, trying to concentrate on spreading Haineko as wide as possible without thinning her out too much.

_Byakuya would have known._

"It wasn't Byakuya." Maybe if I said it out loud, it would sound more convincing.

_He would have known to do it now._

"It. Wasn't. Byakuya!" I ground out through clenched teeth, swiping Haineko at a particularly ugly monster. We missed the mask and I just barely had enough time to turn and protect Baby before its claws swiped down my back, scoring three hot, burning lines down my back.

"Shit. Shit, shit, _shit._" There were tears in my eyes as Haineko destroyed that Hollow and narrowly missed getting the next. "Too many, too _many!_"

But that wasn't going to make them go away.

Baby gave a huge, heaving punch and I suddenly became aware of the blood soaking my hakama, having run down my—

That wasn't blood.

Suddenly, the reason Baby had been kicking so hard became clear.

"_No!_" The word tore itself from my throat.

I was going into labour. There was no hope.

xXx

_Faster, damn you, faster!_

If she was dead when he got there, if she was gone—

No. She wouldn't be. She was strong.

He had to believe that.

xXx

_:Rangiku?:_

Haineko's voice cut through my despair.

_:What.:_

_:You need to keep fighting.:_

_:What's the point? I'll die anyway.:_

I'd killed so many, and still they were coming. Still they were coming.

_:We're not strong enough,: _I added.

Silence.

_:What if…we could be?:_

_:We _can't

_:No, _you_ can't.:_

_:Wh-what?:_

Mindlessly, I started to kill Hollow again, even as another contraction hit. I let myself scream this one out, reasoning that there really was no reason not to anymore.

_:We've had the power to attain bankai for over seven years, Rangiku. The only thing holding us back was your physical state. Attempting bankai right now…:_

_:Would mean certain death?:_

_:Exactly.:_

_:Gee, what a choice. Certain death, or certain death. I wonder what I'll choose!:_

_:Rangiku, this isn't the time to be getting hysterical.:_

_:I'm going to _die_, Haineko, and my baby is going to die with me! I think I have the right to be hysterical!:_

_:We can save the kid if we fend these Hollow off, Rangiku. Soul Society is bound to have noticed the weird Hollow activity and sent someone to investigate. If you can hold on until they arrive—:_

_:My baby will live?:_

_:She'll have far more of a chance than if we don't try this.:_

_:She?:_

_:Your baby is a girl, Rangiku.:_

Tears sprang to my eyes, but I choked them back, killing yet another Hollow. I could feel the blood oozing from the wounds on my back, the rolling pain as another contraction started.

I scratched a name into the dirt and hoped like hell it'd stay.

_:Alright.:_

_:Alright?:_

_:Let's do this.:_

Lead by Haineko I held her hilt out right at a ninety-degree angle to my body.

_:Like this?:_

_:Perfect.:_

_:Right.:_

And as the next Hollow bore down on me, she whispered the words into my head.

Her true name

"Tatsumaki Haineko!"

_Ash Cat Tornado._

"Ban-kai!"

xXx

_Finally!_

He ran out through the doors as soon as they opened, not hesitating in drawing his zanpakutō.

"Senbonzakura Kageyoshi, bankai!"

He threw her into the ground, not pausing to be dramatic about it, and set upon the masses of Hollow like a wave of pink death.

There was a roar unlike that of a Hollow coming right from the centre of the monsters and Byakuya was momentarily blinded by grey before it coalesced into a large panther. The animal roared again as Byakuya concentrating on killing Hollow before they killed _her_, and leapt upon the mask of the nearest monster.

It – disappeared. Shredded to dust by the merest touch of that proud animal, and as the cat dispersed into a tornado of epic proportions, Byakuya realised what had happened.

Bankai. Rangiku had achieved bankai, and while he couldn't breathe easy with so many Hollow still around, he could at least be assured that she wasn't going to die.

xXx

_I know that reiatsu. I _know_ that reiatsu!_

"Byakuya!" I croaked, as another contraction racked through my body. I was scrabbling at the edge of life, holding on for my little girl.

But Byakuya was here now.

He'd look after her.

It'd all be alright.

I let go.

xXx

There was almost a smile on his face as he ripped through the Hollow to get to her, to get to her side and hold her and kiss her and let her know how much he loved her and how _stupid _he'd been to—

It disappeared.

That tiny smile froze on his face as he waited for the ash tornado to coalesce once again into that large cat.

Only, it didn't.

Byakuya wasn't stupid. He knew what it meant when a shinigami's bankai dissipated – it had happened to him, after all. But he could not, would not, absolutely _refused_ to believe it was happening to Rangiku.

She knew he was here. She was pulling back to let him take over. That was all.

But as she came into sight, unmoving, and Senbonzakura cleared the last Hollow and no more appeared, she still did not move.

Why was she not moving? She should be moving, even if it was only to punch him in the face!

He wasn't aware of having flash-stepped to her, but he must have because suddenly he was crashing to his knees next to her still body.

"Rangiku," he whispered, cupping her face, grabbing her shoulders, shaking her. "Rangiku, wake up. Wake up."

He scrabbled for a pulse, movements jerky and hurried in his terror.

There was a pulse. He could have sobbed in relief, but he had to keep her alive.

He was no healing expert, but you didn't need to be for what he was intending to do. Clasping her cooling hands in his, he concentrated his reiatsu and _shoved_.

The result was instantaneous. Her back arched and she cried out as he pumped his life-force into her, giving her everything he had.

"B-Byakuya?" she croaked.

"I'm here," he replied quietly through clenched teeth, feeding her more of his life. "I'm here."

"Did…didju read m'letter…?" she slurred.

"What letter?"

She smiled softly. "Th' one y'kept sendin' back."

"I received no letter."

The feeling had started to leave his hands as his energy faded into her, but it returned full force as she screamed suddenly and arched her back again.

"B-Byakuya! B-baby!"

Reality crashed down on him.

"It's too early," he told her, as if by saying it he could somehow make her be not-in-labour. "You still have four and a half weeks."

"Yeah, well, in the face of being kidnapped, chloroformed, attack by Hollow and achieving bankai, apparently four and a half weeks don't mean all that much!" Pain had sharpened her tongue and it seemed she was fully aware of what was happening.

He'd hoped she wouldn't be.

Her eyes widened. "Byakuya? What are you doing?"

"Giving you my life," he replied in all seriousness. It was the least she deserved after those awful months.

Her hands jerked in his, as if she'd tried to slap him. "Idiot! Byakuya, I'm _dying_. You can't save me!"

His eyes widened in horror as he realised what she said was true. Her life force was fading, even as he bolstered it with his own. Her soul was like a bucket full of holes – as fast as he filled it up, it just kept emptying.

"How?"

He received that smile. That same horrific smile he'd received as Hisana lay dying, as she _thanked_ him for taking her life.

"No," he whispered. "_No._" Her life started run away faster.

"The price of bankai, Byakuya. My body didn't have the strength to maintain it, so it took the energy from my soul."

"I refuse to let you die."

"You don't…have a choice," she breathed, eyes fluttering as another contraction wracked her body. He hadn't even noticed the others since his first realisation. Exhaustion was seeping into his own bones as he forced more of his life-force into her. "Save Baby. Byakuya. Save our child."

"You are not going to die. I will not let you."

"You don't…have enough…energy to…save me." Her breathing was becoming more laboured. Desperate, he sent another surge of energy into her. "Not to keep…yourself alive as well…And then I still…might die…anyway."

He turned away from her face, unable to look at that dreadful smile any longer. His eyes fell onto a name scratched into the dirt.

_Maiko._

A girl. Suddenly the child had a sex, a name, a _face_.

"Save…Maiko."

It made it all the more harder to do what he had to do next.

"I can't do that, Rangiku."

He eyes sprang open. "What?"

"You are going…to hate me for…this. But at least…you will be alive…to hate me…"

He couldn't live without her. Her life was more than worth his. And in saving hers, maybe he'd succeed in saving the child's.

_Maiko._

"I love you, Rangiku."

xXx

When I woke up, everything was white.

There was something wrong with that sentence. One – I woke up. That's not something dead people tend to do that often. Two – everything was white. This further ruined the whole dead-hypothesis, because heaven was not, contrary to poplar belief, white.

And I remembered all of this.

And then I remembered everything else.

"No." I started to shake. "_No._ Byakuya!"

"I'm here."

Well. That brought an abrupt halt to my hysteria. "Wh-what?"

"Try opening your eyes, Rangiku."

It took a few seconds for the information to sink into my brain. That was Nanao. And everything was no longer white, which must have meant that I had closed my eyes again.

I promptly opened them.

The first thing I saw was Byakuya. He was sitting upright in a bed to my left, hand knotted tightly with mine. I went to throw my arms around him before several other things made themselves known.

My head ached

My back ached.

My stomach was on _fire_. Why had no one given me any meds for this pain?

I was sure that information was important, but I couldn't for the life of me remember why.

I was also in a bed. A bed in Fourth Division, and everything was _not_ white because there were people there.

Unohana, Nanao, Tōshirō, Karin, Yuki, Momo, Ichigo, Rukia, Isane, Rikichi, Shunsui, Ukitake, Ikkaku and Yumichika and Iba, Masaki and Isshin. And right down the back there – Chiaki?

"What happened?" I asked. I wasn't sure who I was asking, but there were enough people there to answer.

"You're both idiots," Tōshirō told me.

"Eh?"

"Neither of you thought anyone was going to come for you," Nanao elaborated. "You thought we were going to let you die there."

"_We're_ not stupid," Karin continued. "We knew that amount of stress could induce labour—"

"Labour?" I bolted upright and then groaned in pain. When the pain faded, I realised that there was nothing to prevent me from bolting upright.

Tears pricked at already red-swollen eyes.

"Oh, don't do that," Nanao muttered, adjusting her glasses. "You think we'd be so callous as to mention it if Maiko hadn't made it?"

"To your right, Rangiku," Byakuya said quietly.

I was almost afraid to look, but I did.

And there she was.

Oh sure, she was in an incubator or whatever they're called, but I knew right away she was ours. She was tiny and bald but I knew. I _knew_.

"Maiko." It was a pretty pathetic sound I made, but I think that all things considered, I was allowed to sound pathetic.

"She is beautiful, is she not?"

I turned to smile at Byakuya, hand still clenched tightly with his. "We make good kids, Byakuya."

We smile stupidly at one another until Shunsui suddenly cleared his throat.

"Well then! Rangiku is very obviously alive, so I think we should all go and to that thing we were going to do."

Nanao shot an exasperated look up at her lover. "That thing?"

"Indeed."

"Very subtle."

"Why thank you, my lovely Nanao-chan." And with that, he slung an arm around her shoulders and steered her towards the door. Much to my surprise (and I think everyone else's), she complied. That compliance, however, set the tone for everyone else and they all filed out of the room. Well, Unohana stayed for a moment longer, but she had a fantastic excuse.

"We had to deliver Maiko via caesarean, but rest assured. She is in perfect health for a premature baby. She will have to be kept in special care for a while yet, but that is to be expected."

"Really?" No joke, happiness _infused_ my body. I was healthy (as healthy as expected, at least), Byakuya was healthy (well, no one told me he was dying, so I assumed) and my baby was healthy!

I turned back to Byakuya.

"You were really stupid," I told him.

"I knew that even as I was doing it, Rangiku."

"But..."

"But?"

"I don't hate you."

He chuckled and I basked in the sound. "I'm glad. I would not wish for Matsumoto Maiko to grow up with parents that couldn't stand to be around each other."

And just like that, everything clicked into place. I knew exactly what I had to do, what I needed to do.

What, more than anything, I really wanted to do.

"As pretty as that sounds, I don't think so."

He looked suddenly worried and I laughed, squeezing his hand.

"I mean, it has a nice ring to it and all, but I rather think Kuchiki Maiko fits better."

He looked cautiously ecstatic, but then again Byakuya looked cautiously everything. "Do you mean…"

"We're getting married, dolt."

A wide grin broke across his face. It was the weirdest thing I'd ever seen, but probably one of the most welcomed. He leaned across the bed and kissed me, once, twice and again before pulling back.

The smile was gone and an evil glint had replaced it. "So you are just assuming that I shall agree?" he asked carefully.

"Byakuya!" If I could have moved much more than a centimetre without aching all over, I would have socked him one.

And the smile was back.

"So…" I murmured between those fantastic kisses that I'd been without for far too long. "Is that a yes?"

"No," he replied. "That's an always and forever."

I smirked into his next kiss.

"I think I can live with that."

_End_

_Oh, my god._

_That – that's it. It's _over_. I mean, it'll continue in other fics and all, but that's the end of __**The Stage.**_

_I think I'm going to cry._

_Thank you, all of you. Those who reviewed, those who are going to review, and each and every reader who got some form of enjoyment out of this, even if it was just a laugh at the total ridiculous of the pairing._

_And now I need to give a huge, HUGE shout-out to __**cricketchick1990**__ for scouring this last chapter to within an inch of its life and for egging me on throughout this very, very long day. Yes, I wrote this whole thing in a day._

_So much love to you all!_

_-Feilyn_


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